Celebrating West Side Agriculture 2020

4 | HONORING WEST SIDE AGRICULTURE THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020
Delgado’s
Welding Shop
has been
serving the
West Side ag
community
for nearly
three decades.
Arnie Delgado,
left, took the
operation over
from his father
Fidencio in
2013.
Welding, fabrication shop helps keep wheels of ag turning
CROWS LANDING -
Farmers and ranchers in
the San Joaquin Valley fuel
the local economy while
helping feed the world.
Behind one of the
world’s most prolific agricultural
producers, however,
is a network of businesses
and service providers
who help keep the
wheels of ag turning.
Among them is a small
Crows Landing welding
shop which traces its roots
back decades.
Delgado’s Welding Shop,
operated by second-generation
owner Arnie Delgado,
is part of that critical
support network serving
farmers and ag-related
processors.
Delgado took over the
operation from his father
Fidencio (who still works
part-time at the shop) in
2013 and has continued
providing the welding and
fabrication services on
which his clients rely.
Family ties to the business
stretch back decades,
to the years when longtime
owner Ken Tyler
had the shop. Fidencio
Delgado worked for Tyler
for about 30 years, his son
explained. The younger
Delgado grew up around
the shop, he related, and
during his youth was able
to try his hand at welding.
“”We used to come and
clean the shop, and (Tyler)
would let us use the welding
machine,” Delgado explained.
“We would make
toys.”
The shop sold to another
owner around 1990,
and then Fidencio Delgado
had the opportunity
to take over the business
two years later. A year or
two later Arnie, who had
been working previously
at Newman Flange, joined
his father in the welding
business.
Throughout the years,
Delgado said, the commitment
to serving the ag
community has continued.
The shop provides a variety
of fabrication services
for its customers as
well as welding, he noted.
“The welding is easy.
When you are fabricating
something you have to
have experience because
when you heat up metal
it tends to pull,” Delgado
explained. “You need to
know all those things.”
He and his father fabricate
parts for a variety of
equipment and machinery,
including tillage implements.
“Sometimes farmers
come in and have old
equipment that they can’t
find a part for. They will
bring it in and we will
make it for them. If they
need it, we make it,” Delgado
stated.
The custom blades
which bean growers attach
to tractors to cut their
bean plants for harvest are
a specialty at the shop.
“My dad is the only one
around here who does the
bean knives,” Delgado explained.
In addition to the shop
work, Delgado will travel
to weld in the field as
needed.
He is available for afterhours
and weekend work
as needed to keep his customers
up and running
- particularly during the
planting and harvest seasons
when farmers are at
their busiest.
“That is when they are
all in a hurry to beat the
weather,” Delgado remarked.
“You cannot compete
with the weather. It
controls everything.”
Delgado took over the
shop during tough times,
he recalled, and farmers
helped him through the
rough patches - sometimes
paying him in advance for
his work.
“All the farmers have
been very supportive,”
Delgado reflected. “I am
grateful for all the customers
we have.”
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He, in return, strives to
meet their needs.
Satisfied customers,
Delgado shared, are his
greatest reward.
“The thing that motivates
me is when the
farmer comes and you do
the work and they like it,”
he commented. “Helping
people is the motivation.”
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