Valley Armenians Unite to Welcome Ag Minister
*Community Rallies Around Tavit Lokian to hear about the homeland and find out how to help out Armenian farmers by Paul Chaderjian Asbarez (Fresno) -- "For me, it's very important to meet with people who work on the land, the people who work with the laborers who work on the farms," said Armenia's Ag Minister Tavit Lokian at a posh banquet in his honor in Fresno last week. "As a Minister of the people, I have to be that type of person." At the private dinner, sponsored by the Armenian Cultural Foundation (ACF), the Minister was able to do just what he had hoped to do – to meet and talk openly with the farmers and community leaders who have put Central California on the global map of agriculture. According to the California Farm Bureau, the region's ag industry has generated an average of 16 billion dollars of revenue annually. Lokian spent two-days in California's San Joaquin Valley -- dubbed by locals as the breadbasket to the world -- to ...