Alfie Oakes

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Alfie Oakes
Alfie Oakes (51329769814) (cropped).jpg
Oakes at the 2021 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA
Born
Francis Alfred Oakes

(1968-06-16) June 16, 1968 (age 53)
Delaware City, Delaware, U.S.
EducationNorth Fort Myers High School
Occupation
  • farmer
  • retailer
  • wholesaler
Known forFounder of Oakes Farms, Politician
TitleFounder and Chief Executive Officer of Oakes Farms
Spouse(s)Deanne Dilger Oakes[1]
Children3 [2]
Parent(s)
  • Frank Oakes (father)
Websitewww.oakesfarms.com

Francis Alfred Oakes (born June 16, 1968)[1] is an American farmer, businessman, and politician from Southwest Florida. He is the founder and CEO of Oakes Farms, an agribusiness based in Immokalee, Florida, which produces, packages, distributes, and sells fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products. He also owns Fruit Dynamics and Food & Thought.[3][4] Alfie Oakes represents Collier County as a State Committeeman for the Republican Party of Florida. He is an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump and critic of Black Lives Matter, the media, and the government's handling of COVID-19, causing him to receive significant criticism and support from the media and community.

Early life[]

Alfie Oakes was born in Delaware City, Delaware, on June 16, 1968.[1] He relocated to Florida with his family when he was a child, and attended North Fort Myers High School.[1] He became involved in his family's produce business at age five and started his first agribusiness at age 18, planting and selling tomatoes, strawberries, and zucchini. When his crops were destroyed by a freeze in 1989, he began importing tomatoes from Honduras. His early business ventures failed despite raising nearly $1,000,000, which he attributes to inexperience, so he relocated to Western Texas to sell watermelons.[2]

Oakes Farms[]

Oakes returned to Florida to plant cucumbers on 40 acres (16 ha) of leased land in Punta Gorda, and he used the profits from that operation to create Oakes Farms Market in Naples along with his father Frank Oakes in 1994. His father left the company to open his own organic farm and store in 2005.[5] Oakes Farms expanded into aquaculture in 2014 and added egg-producing chickens in 2015.[3] Oakes Farms opened a 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m2) supermarket named Seed To Table in December 2019.[6] Oakes Farm has numerous contracts with the federal government. In 2018, Oakes farm won a $46 million contract to provide food to the Department of Defense, and in 2020, Oakes Farms was awarded a $70 million contract to distribute food boxes by the Trump Administration. [7]

Politics[]

Oakes was elected to represent Collier County as a State Committeeman for the Republican Party of Florida in 2020.[8] His political opinions have been mentioned in the press numerous times.

Oakes is critical of governmental response to COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, and George Floyd, and his comments about those subjects have sparked protests both in support and opposition.[9][10] Under pressure from protestors, the District School Board of Collier County and the School District of Lee County severed ties with his business, a move leading to a $50 million lawsuit against Lee County Schools by Oakes.[11][12][13] His business did not comply with Collier County's mask requirements in response to COVID-19, which led to legal battles between his business and the county government.[14]

2020 election[]

"Seed to Table" Naples store interior, 2021

Oakes is an outspokenly loyal supporter of Donald J. Trump's presidency. During the 2020 United States presidential election. Oakes hosted numerous events supporting President Trump's re-election at his Seed To Table store in North Naples[15] and helped organize a group of 100 local protestors to travel to the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,[16] speaking positively of the controversial protest afterward.[17] Oakes also endorsed African American Republican Byron Donalds' congressional election and erected signs promoting his candidacy at his Seed To Table store.[18]

Undocumented workers[]

In 2014, Fruit Dynamics was raided by the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud, resulting in 105 undocumented workers being arrested for workers’ compensation fraud and criminal use of personal identification. Oakes denied knowledge of the workers' undocumented status, but the company offered to post bail for the workers to be released from jail.[4] According to immigration advocacy groups, the raid was the largest in Florida history at the time. Many of those arrested were admitted to pretrial diversion programs.[19] In 2016, Oakes told CBS News "Forty to 80 percent can be undocumented on any given day, and I can tell you, if we were to lose 40 to 80 percent of our workforce, we would be crippled here."[20]


References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Alfie Oakes Facebook Profile". Facebook. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b June Fletcher (March 28, 2016). "Alfie Oakes: Growing his business from the ground up". Naples Daily News. Gannett. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Our History". Oakes Farms. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "State agency raids business related to Oakes Farms". Naples Daily News. Gannett. July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  5. ^ Fletcher, June (March 28, 2016). "Alfie Oakes: Growing his business from the ground up". Naples Daily News. Gannett. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  6. ^ "Oakes Farms' Seed to Table Market opens in North Naples". . Florida Media Group LLC. December 19, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  7. ^ Evichn and Rodriguez (January 19, 2021). "Trump team tries to milk the politics of food boxes to its final days". Politico. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  8. ^ Brent Batten (August 20, 2020). "Brent Batten: State committee races prove old adage about publicity". Naples Daily News. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  9. ^ Brent Batten (August 20, 2020). "Brent Batten: State committee races prove old adage about publicity". Naples Daily News. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  10. ^ Jacob Ogles (August 18, 2020). "Loyalty to Donald Trump key issue in GOP state committee races in SWFL". Floridapolitics.com. Peter Schorsch. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  11. ^ Tamica Jean-Charles (June 15, 2020). "Protestors spar after Oakes Farms owner calls George Floyd "a disgraceful career criminal"". South Florida Media Network. Florida International University. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  12. ^ Taylor Smith (July 9, 2020). "Alfie Oakes, Oakes Farms sues School District of Lee County for $50M". WINK-TV. Fort Myers Broadcasting Company. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  13. ^ "Alfie Oakes scores legal victory against School District of Lee County". WINK-TV. Fort Myers Broadcasting Company. February 17, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  14. ^ Laura Layden (November 13, 2020). "Federal judge dismisses parts of lawsuit challenging Collier County's mask order". Naples Daily News. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  15. ^ "Seed To Table Events". Seed To Table official page. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  16. ^ Jane Monreal (January 6, 2021). "100 Locals head to D.C. to protest certification of Biden as President". WFTX-TVpublisher=E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  17. ^ Thaddeus Mast (January 7, 2021). "Collier County business owner calls D.C. trip to Trump protests 'amazing,' surrounded by 'great Americans'". Naples Daily News. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  18. ^ Shari Armstrong (August 9, 2020). "Campaign signs of two black candidates defaced". WFTX-TV. E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  19. ^ "Prosecutors agree to deferred prosecution for undocumented workers arrested in Oakes Farms raid". Naples Daily News. Gannett. October 6, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  20. ^ Ines Novacic (November 2, 2016). "Undocumented farmworker families face uncertain fate". CBS News. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
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