HISTORY it doesn’t posses the longevity of some of its counterparts. Brothers Sean and Glen McCauley grew up in East County on their father’s farm. The family began with produce, then moved into poultry. “We had the largest poultry farm in Contra Costa County from 1979 to about 1989,” said Sean McCauley. “When the earthquake happened, it collapsed all the cages and my dad went out of business, it was awful. Then, when me and my brother were old enough to work on our own, we eventually bought back all our property.” Currently, the McCauleys farm 3,000 acres of wheat, barley and safflower, as well as 250 acres of olives and 25 acres of wine grapes. The family sells their olive oil in their store front, McCauley Olive Groves, in Brentwood. They also have a pest control business. The Urban Edge Farm organic farm store is located at 2017 Walnut Blvd. For more information, visit https://www.theurbanedgefarm.com/. G&S Farms is located at 1151 Chestnut Street in Brentwood. For information on their U-pick cherries and other activities, visit https://www. gsfarms.net/. Co.Co. County Wine Company is located at 633 First St. in Brentwood. For more information on Bloomfield Wines, call 925-6349463. For information on Bloomfield U-pick season, visit https://www. bloomfieldcherries.com/. McCauley Olive Groves is located at 380 West Country Club Drive, Suite G, in Brentwood. For more information, call 925-754-6457 or visit https:// mccauleyolivegroves.com/. W
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Ghiggeri, one of the first farmers to plant sweet corn in Brentwood. When Glenn Stonebarger – a third generation Brentwood farmer – married Ghiggeri’s daughter, Jeannie, a new business was born in G&S Farms. “We’ve been here on the Stonebarger side since the 1920s and the Ghiggeri side since the 1930s,” Stonebarger said. “It’s a family run organization. We think of ourselves as being very small, family-oriented farmers. I have two sons that work in the business, and a nephew.” The family is currently working on raising its fifth generation of Brentwood farmers. The Bloomfields are another local farming family, producing a variety of row and permanent crops since the 1940s. Tom Bloomfield and his wife, Becky, run the business with their sons, who are fifth generation farmers. Bloomfield’s great-grandfather purchased the original piece of property on Bixler and Orwood roads and the family has diversified their business to include vegetables, U-pick cherries and award-winning vineyards. “We used to have our own packing shed in Oakley, where we packed melons and tomatoes and table grapes and all kinds of things for export,” said Becky Bloomfield, who runs Co.Co. Wine Company, the family’s tasting room in downtown Brentwood. “We grow almonds, wine grapes, cherries, and then we just planted two acres of peaches just for fun and we grow different grasses for livestock.” McCauley is another well-known name in the local farming scene, though
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East County has a rich agricultural history that has not been diminished by time or development. Dr. John Marsh purchased the land between Brushy Peak and the San Joaquin River in 1837, but after his death several years later, mining companies moved in and began to plan a town. As a blacksmith, saloon and other buildings went up, families began farming the land. Mild weather and rich soil allowed the production of vegetables as well as fruit and nut trees to grow into an industry as the 20th century turned into the 21st. Robert and Barbara Cecchini currently run The Urban Edge Farm, and organic farm store on Walnut Boulevard, but their history goes back much farther. Robert Cecchini’s family began their relationship with Brentwood’s land in the 1920s, when his grandparents were tenant farmers in Bethel Island. His parents bought the land currently owned by the Cechinnis, though the original 3,000 acres has been downsized to 75 acres. “We are still a family farm, but not a big family farm,” said Barbara Cecchini. “We have specialized in asparagus since the 1920s, and we still have a little 5-acre asparagus plot.” The family currently has U-pick orchards for various stone fruits like cherries and peaches, as well as plots for vegetables and wine grapes. Anyone familiar with East County has seen the signs advertising G&S Farms sweet corn. They are also known for their U-pick cherries and pumpkin patch. The organization’s seeds were sown in the 1940s with Emilio
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Farming has deep roots in East County
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