California's Central Valley suffers from underinvestment and substandard educational attainment levels, which hamper its ability to both modernize the agriculture value chain and to provide significant advancement opportunities for workers.

To explore how best to overcome these barriers, address concerns that curtail investment in the Central Valley, and boost the local economy, the Milken Institute convened regional stakeholders at a workshop at the University of California, Merced, in May 2013. This discussion and subsequent phone conversations and follow-up meetings identified the human capital needs of the agricultural sector in the Central Valley as a priority.

This report identifies key obstacles the region faces and provides guidance to policymakers and economic developers on how to solve them. The recommendations of this report are adapted directly from the conclusions reached during the roundtable by the stakeholders and Milken Institute.