Cali Mendoza hopped on and off the sprayer quicker than a man half his age, and with purpose. It was mid-July in South Georgia. The corn, peanuts, cotton and hay looked good on the farm, well managed. Still, he was ready to do what needed doing.

Mendoza is the foreman for the Sunbelt Ag Expo’s Darrell Williams Research Farm in Moultrie, Ga. But for much of his younger adult life, you could say he was a journeyman laborer, learning hard work and how to do things right, mostly in the construction industry.

Some 25 years ago, Mendoza and a friend, both down in Florida working those construction jobs, decided to go up to Georgia to look for other work, maybe something in agriculture. Mendoza went to Moultrie, where he knew some people. He found out from the local labor department that Darrell Williams, the well-known Expo farm manager, needed some temporary help loading hay. 

“I didn’t know much about farming then,” Mendoza said. 

Williams saw something in Mendoza’s work. Mendoza has been at the Expo ever since. He now knows every corner of the farm and how to make it click, having worked for three other Expo farm managers following Williams’ death in 2009.

Mendoza grew up in Dios Padre in southern Mexico. In his late teens and early 20s, he started venturing farther north for opportunities. Faith and fate seemed to want him in Moultrie. 

Mendoza in front of the house he built in Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo, Mexico, near his childhood hometown. Credit: Cali Mendoza

Cali is 54 years old. Not long after arriving in Moultrie for the first time, Cali met Maria Alvarado at a local church. They now have three grown children: daughter Elena Patricia Alvarado and sons Norberto Alvarado and Mendoza Alvarado. They have grandkids, too.

Soon after he started full time with Williams back in the day, Mendoza wanted to return to Mexico to visit family and friends. To make the trip, he asked if he could combine his vacation time with the Christmas holidays, which is a slower time for the Expo farm. He has made that trip during that time almost every year since. Over the first decade working at the Expo, he also used those return visits back to Mexico to build his house there with his hands in nearby Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo. And it’s a nice house. 

Chip Blalock has been the Sunbelt Ag Expo executive director for 25 years.

“Cali is everything you look for in a loyal employee. I affectionately call him the “glue” that holds us all together. Throughout his 25-year Expo career, Cali has worked for four farm managers. He was trained by the first one, Darrell Williams, and then he trained the other three, and is always on time, ready to tackle the day’s work with a smile,” Blalock said. “Cali has forgotten more about the Expo site than most people know. He is the go-to for water line placement and the plethora of valves that control water movement. He knows what to do and how to get it done.”

Mendoza thought his government working documents had all the right dots on the ‘I’s and level crosses on the ‘T’s. But his papers didn’t. He found this out during a trip up to Colorado on Expo business. A simple traffic stop turned up the citizenship discrepancy, a red tape mishap with a side of legal misunderstanding.

It took a little time, but Williams and Blalock got Mendoza back home to Moultrie. With local legal assistance, they set to make things right with his citizenship. Mendoza proudly took the citizenship test and stood to take the Oath of Allegiance, becoming a proud U.S. citizen in 2017.

“One of the greatest days in the history of the Expo was when Cali gained his USA citizenship," Blalock said. "He was so proud, and we were too. If you look up good man in the dictionary, you will find Cali’s photo beside it. Cali is a great husband, father, grandfather, friend and coworker. We are so fortunate to have him on our team.”

Benji Baldree is a retired technician from the nearby University of Georgia Tifton Campus but has worked UGA Extension experiments at the Sunbelt farm for decades and heads up the Expo’s famed hay area and demonstrations. Baldree knew Darrell Williams well and has known Cali since he arrived.

“If there is something that needs to be done, Cali has probably already done it or is on his way to handle it,” Baldree said. “And you know it will be done right and maybe even done better than you planned.”

Cody Mitchell has been the Expo farm manager for the last eight years. 

“Cali is one of the hardest working men I know. His passion for the Expo is like no other. Cali has been a part of 25 crop years at the Expo, and I am thankful I have been able to be by his side his last eight crop years. From the first day I met him, he took me under his wing, and he never looked back. Cali is more than just a coworker to me. Cali has taught me more than I could ever imagine about the Expo and farming. I am fortunate to be Cali’s boss. If you ask anyone around the Expo about Cali they will tell you he really is the glue that holds this place together,” Mitchell said.