![]() ^ a b c d "Alfie Oakes Facebook Profile".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." References Many of those arrested were admitted to pretrial diversion programs. According to immigration advocacy groups, the raid was the largest in Florida history at the time. Oakes denied knowledge of the workers' undocumented status, but the company offered to post bail for the workers to be released from jail. 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. That same year, Oakes was elected to be the Collier County Republican Party Committeeman, a position which he still holds. Oakes also endorsed African American Republican Byron Donalds' congressional election and erected signs promoting his candidacy at his Seed To Table store. During the 2020 United States presidential election, he hosted several events supporting President Trump's re-election at his Seed To Table store in North Naples and helped organize a group of 100 local protestors to travel to the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, speaking positively of the controversial protest afterward. Oakes is an outspokenly loyal supporter of Donald J. "Seed to Table" Naples store interior, 2021 His business, Seed to Table, was alleged to not comply with the mask mandate in response to COVID-19, but the management said they did everything to prevent the spread of the disease. 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 in which the court ruled in favor of Oakes. Oakes was 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. His political opinions have been mentioned in the press numerous times. Oakes was elected to represent Collier County as a State Committeeman for the Republican Party of Florida in 2020. It also has approximately 4000 employees. Seed to Table is located in Naples, Florida, and reportedly has annual sales of $500 M, as of June 2022. The company opened a 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m 2) supermarket named Seed To Table in December 2019. In October 2021, Oakes Farm was sued by C-Squared for an alleged violation of PACA but the Court denied all of C-Squared claims against Oakes Farms and rewarded over $750,000 in damages to Oakes Farms. In May 2021, Oakes stepped down from Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Services and handed over the company to employee ownership. 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. Oakes Farm has several contracts with the federal government. The company has farms in Collier and Hendry counties in Florida and other farms in Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and New Jersey. Oakes Farms expanded into aquaculture in 2014 and added egg-producing chickens in 2015. ![]() His father left the company to open his own organic farm and store in 2005. 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 early business ventures were challenging due to inexperience, despite raising nearly $1,000,000, which he attributes to inexperience, so he relocated to Western Texas to sell watermelons. When his crops were destroyed by a freeze in 1989, he began importing tomatoes from Honduras. 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. ![]() He relocated to Florida with his family when he was a child, and attended North Fort Myers High School. Alfie Oakes was born in Delaware City, Delaware, on June 16, 1968.
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