The Heroes Who Put Food on Your Table Don’t Eat if They Don’t Work

Joe Del Bosque never stops thinking about food. He can’t afford to stop thinking about it.

When you make your living from something, and you support yourself and your family from it, that commodity is always on your mind. You worry about whether you’ll be able to supply what is demanded, and whether there will be demand for what you supply.

Del Bosque—who grows asparagus, almonds, cherries, cantaloupes, and sweet corn on his farm in the Central California town of Firebaugh, west of Fresno—also never stops thinking about...