Committed to Caring - HGO Farms

Committed to Caring LAND

PEOPLE

RESOURCES

A Compilation of Stories from the Farm, the Team, and the Homegrown Community

We are committed to caring FOR

US , IT'S ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS —

RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR CUSTOMERS , OUR TEAM MEMBERS , OUR COMMUNITIES , AND THE LAND.

The Homegrown Organic Farms Commitment Our commitment to the organic produce industry began in 1998 as a single devotion to exclusively grow and market certified organic produce. We are family farmers who take pride in our farms and believe in returning what the soil abundantly provides, offering to you only what we trust to our own families. This requires a continual, uncompromising commitment to safe food and a quality expectation that is second to none. We are founded on a pledge of stewardship to properly care for the land that we farm and the produce we grow for your enjoyment.

What We Grow • • • •

Organic Blueberries Organic Citrus Organic Grapes Organic Pomegranates

• Organic Persimmons • Organic Stone Fruit • Organic Snack Items

Our Growers We represent upward of eighty different organic growers throughout the states of California and Oregon. We take great pride in being able to represent their organic produce in the marketplace and make every effort to help develop a relationship between the consumer and the grower. We want consumers to know where their fruit comes from and the care that each of our growers has taken to provide them with healthy, safe, and great tasting organic produce.

The Committed to Caring Program was created to share stories from our growers and team members that illustrate our value for these relationships. It is the response to the realization that despite the fact that these types of stories have been unfolding all around us for years, most of our own team members had never heard of the contributions to community building and sustainability that were happening within our own network.

The stories included in this booklet not only showcase new farming practices and conservation strategies happening in the Homegrown sphere but also feature ways in which our team members and growers have decided to give back to their own communities.

You'll find stories about feeding the populations, innovating farming practices, creating long-term partnerships, and caring for the land. Though most of the people who are featured in this booklet might consider their stories to be "old news," this is the first time we've had an outlet to share and celebrate them in this way.

It is our hope and intention that this booklet will continue to grow as we discover more of the good happening among our growers and our team. As you turn the pages, we hope you'll enjoy jumping into our world and experiencing all the ways in which we are striving to make a difference by remaining committed to caring.

On the Cover: The staff garden at Riverbend Organic Farm in Jefferson, Oregon (pg 10); A bumblebee pollinating blueberry blossoms (pg 2), Falconers Getty Pollard and Lee Phelps with Eric Pond of Riverbend Organic Farm (pg 22); Don Mabs inspecting Cara Cara navel oranges in Porterville, California (pg 24). Back Cover: Honeybees camped out at Dale Simmon’s Fisher navel orange orchard in Dinuba, California.

Scott Mabs, CEO of Homegrown Organic Farms

Contents

â–˛ Homegrown stone fruit and citrus grower Augustine Cardenas in Dinuba, California

2 Welcoming Native Pollinators

Raising New Questions About Hosting Beneficial Insects, Building a Year-Round Habitat for Bumblebees, and Giving the European Hedgerow New Life

4 The Peaches to Papayas Project

Transforming a Harvest of California-Grown Yellow Peaches into Fruit Trees for Farmers on the Other Side of the Globe

6 Making Room for More Voices

On-Site ESL Program Provides Opportunities for Social Mobility and Idea Sharing

8 A Winning Alliance

Homegrown Sponsors Local Youth Soccer Team, Coached by Passionate Long-Time Employee

10 Sharing the Harvest

Shared Burrito Suppers and Farm Sponsored Staff Gardens Fill Bellies and Feed an Atmosphere of Respect

12 Hands On Ag Education

Bringing Industry Experience and Real World Opportunities to Hometown Students Through the Porterville Pathways Linked Learning Program

14 Conserving with the Power of Physics

Electrostatic Technology in Organic Spray Applications Boosts Sustainability and Conserves Resources Now and into the Future

16 An Inheritance of Biological Fertility

For Over 120 Years, the Peterson Family’s Stone Fruit Has Been Grown with Organic Fertilizer from Their Own Poultry Operation

18 Standing Up for CASA Kids

Farmer and Homegrown Organic Farms Owner John France Advocates for Abused and Neglected Kids through the Tulare County CASA Program

20 Wielding the Tools of Wise Water Usage

Irrigation Monitoring Systems Contribute to Water Conservation by Giving Farmers an Extra Set of Eyes

22 The Art of Aerial Crop Protection

Integrated Pest Management Takes to the Sky as Falconers Partner with Nature to Protect Ripe Fruit from Destructive Bird Pests during Harvest Season

24 Smarter Weed Management

Weed Matting For Water Conservation and Day One Organic Orchards

26 Trucking Charity Fruit

Existing Produce Delivery Route Doubles as a Way to Bring Discounted Organic Fruit to Non-Profits and Feeding Programs Across the State

28 For the Benefit of All

Provisions for Job Security, Vision and Dental Insurance, and Retirement Savings on the Inside, and Building Infrastructure for Community Enrichment on the Outside

Welcoming Native Pollinators Raising New Questions About Hosting Beneficial Insects, Building a Year-Round Habitat for Bumblebees, and Giving the European Hedgerow New Life

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► Clockwise from the top: Bumblebees are powerful pollinators, grabbing and shaking the entire blossom to get at the pollen; Willows and native grasses serve to strengthen levee walls as well as provide habitat for insects; Sweat bees, as well as butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and other flies also contribute to natural pollination; Even unintentional weeds in the blueberry rows serve as forage for native insects.

ollination is a big job. In commercial agriculture, it’s a task that has been dominated

by European honeybees for years, but Eric Pond has plans to employ a more diverse crew.

Eric, who oversees farming operations for farms growing berries for Homegrown in Oregon, has been interested in bees since early in his farming career. Recent news of the honeybee decline peaked his interest again and prompted him to think on a bigger scale about pollination solutions.

“I thought, wait a minute here, let’s not be reliant on European honeybees, let’s try and figure out what else is out there,” Eric said, noting that before bringing in honeybees was the norm in commercial farming, pollination occurred naturally.

Eric tasked an agronomist to catalog all of the insect life on Riverbend Organic Farm in Jefferson, Oregon and also reached out to the entomologists at the conservation non-profit The Xerces Society to find out how to better cultivate an environment where bumblebees and other native pollinators could thrive.

“There are a lot of native pollinators out there; when you dig into this thing, it’s complex,” Eric said.

In addition to bumblebees, which are able to work in colder and wetter conditions than honeybees, are sweat bees, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, and all sorts of flies. There is also some question about how creating undisturbed beetle banks could affect the overall ecosystem of the farm.

How to play host to bumblebees in an agricultural setting was a new question for The Xerces

Society, and discovering what works is new territory for both the organization and in the agricultural industry.

The goal is to provide year-round food sources for these insects. In order to do this, Eric is planting non-fruiting, flowering plants in the uncultivated areas of the farm that will bloom before and after the blueberries.

Additionally, wildflowers were seeded into the recently reconstructed levee built for flood protection, and bee-friendly flowers are used in the landscaping around the on-farm homes and offices. Even the weeds in the field are seen as contributors to the cause.

The quest to welcome native pollinators is also opening doors to farming practices of the past.

When The Xerces Society identified a location where native bees would have difficultly flying from one habitat space to the other because of the distance, Eric decided to put in a hedgerow to bridge the gap.

“We’re bringing back the European hedgerow.

We’re really excited about this,” he said.

The steps being taken at Riverbend Organic Farm will be adapted to other Homegrown farms in Oregon, taking into consideration the natural landscape and existing ecology of each farm. The investment in creating more habitat for native pollinators, Eric believes, will come back to the farm in the form of productivity, as increased pollination by bumblebees and other native insects contribute to better yields at harvest.

“Let’s not be reliant on European honeybees, let’s try and figure out what else is out t here.”

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The Peaches to Papayas Project Transforming a Harvest of California-Grown Yellow Peaches into Fruit Trees for Farmers on the Other Side of the Globe

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n 2012, four acres of Sierra Rich peach trees in Laton, California bore tropical fruit— mangosteens, jackfruit, oil palm nuts, and papayas, to name a few. The effort took a village.

It started with Vernon Peterson, a Kingsburg, California stone fruit farmer.

“Hunger is a serious deal and we can’t solve the whole world’s problems, but to the extent we can, it’s incumbent on us to try,” Vernon said about his motivation.

Vernon’s longtime friend, Roy Danforth, is the technical advisor to the Centre d’Expérimentation et de Formation Agricole (CEFA), a non-profit that runs a fruit tree nursery and agricultural research center in Gamboula, Central African Republic.

CEFA also equips and trains local farmers and farm advisors.

When the door opened to contribute to CEFA’s work through the Foods Resource Bank, a non-profit that connects American farmers to their counterparts in the third world, Vernon walked through and invited others to join.

He pledged to donate all the profit from six hundred Sierra Rich peach trees to CEFA and invited community members and customers of Abundant Harvest Organics, his CSA-style farm share service, to contribute to the effort by adopting a peach tree in the orchard for fifty dollars—the cost of production for one tree for one year.

Sixty-six families took advantage of the opportunity, and for a year, Vernon made a weekly video documenting life in the orchard and shared it (along with stories from the Central African fields and farmers his orchard would support) with allied community members.

From winter pruning to winter pruning, the peach tree adopters were able to watch fruit buds turn into blossoms, and then into baby peaches; harvest, packing, and sales; and organic solutions to common problems in the field.

Homegrown Organic Farms “Hunger is a serious wholeheartedly agreed to donate deal, and we can’t their sales commission on these four acres of peaches. After solve the whole summer harvest, the peach tree world’s problems, adopters, Vernon, and Homegrown were able to send over but to the extent we forty thousand dollars to support can, it’s incumbent farms and farmers in Gamboula, Central African Republic. on us to try.”

The hope was that the yearlong journey that connected the Central Valley to the Central African Republic would continue to carry over into many seasons of tropical fruit, grown and cared for by families and farmers on the other side of the world.

See the story archive at www.peachestopapayas.blogspot.com

◄ Clockwise from the top: A woman who traveled to the CEFA nursery to pick out fruit trees to bring back to her village, which was over 60 miles away, goes home with a safu fruit tree, a Madagascar plum tree, and a star apple tree; A Sierra Rich peach tree in Laton, California on harvest day; A papaya tree at the CEFA nutrition garden in Gamboula, Central African Republic; The cooperative farming group Ko Ne Ko, meaning “hand in hand,” posing on their farm with CEFA director Benoit Zangao in Dede, Central African Republic.

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Making Room for More Voices On-Site ESL Program Provides Opportunities for Social Mobility and Idea Sharing

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n every sense, growth in organic farming can’t happen without people. The constant attention, intense management, and problem solving that keep organic plants thriving is best done with boots on the ground and a collective pool of creative ideas.

So, for Eric and Laura Pond of Riverbend Organic Farms in Jefferson, Oregon, success on the farm goes beyond bringing a beautiful blueberry crop to market; it also means being intentional about creating an environment that empowers and encourages people to use their heads “Their willingness and their voices.

And during the summer harvest, to come right up lots of voices are heard. Laura, execand communicate utive assistant at Riverbend, spent about something, several summers among those voices while managing the hand-picking crews during harvest. to tell me their “I just loved it. They’ve got music thoughts and ideas, playing, and they’re singing and people are calling out to each other; it’s had a huge it’s a giant party,” she said. impact.”

It was during those long, hot harvest days, getting to know the crew, that Laura began to see the potential benefits, both professional and personal, of closing the language gap that existed for the majority of her Spanish language only employees.

“I realized they are really, really talented, and what’s hampering their ability to move up in the company is their inability to speak the language, to communicate,” Laura said, adding, “Even if some

of the guys weren’t going to become managers, just doing the everyday stuff for their families, of banking, going to the store, and branching out beyond the Hispanic and Latino community is really challenging without a second language.”

Thus, 2012 kicked off the first of what would become an annual English as a Second Language class for full time Riverbend employees. Each winter, when work slows down on the farm, Laura’s ESL classes take place as a part of the paid work day. Managers and staff attend class for one hour, two times a week, for eight weeks.

For the first round of classes, Laura surveyed the crew to find out what they would most like to learn. She pulled on her experience as a homeschool teacher, and with guidance from a professor friend at Oregon State University, she built a specialized curriculum that covered those subjects, including navigating banking statements, reading kids’ report cards, ordering a coffee at Starbucks, and work and safety related topics.

By the end of the first year, every single participant had improved by at least one fluency level.

“What I shouldn’t have been surprised by, but was,” said Eric, “Was the level of confidence and communication these guys gained after doing just the first year—not looking at the ground, looking the boss in the eyes, having a conversation about what we’re doing. It’s half in English half in Spanish, but their willingness to come right up and communicate about something, to tell me their thoughts and ideas, it’s had a huge impact,” Eric said.

► Top to bottom: Mechanic and ESL class participant Gerardo Medina looks down from his work fixing an electrostatic spray rig at Riverbend Organic Farms; In Independence, Oregon, Ernesto Medina, also an ESL class participant, is now managing a newly developed blueberry farm that will grow berries for Homegrown; Eric Pond talking with Woodburn Organic Farm manager Arturo Llamas.

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A Winning Alliance Homegrown Sponsors Local Youth Soccer Team, Coached by Passionate Long-Time Employee

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iguel Lara knows how to pull together a championship soccer team. The trophies stacking up in the offices at Homegrown Organic Farms prove it. It makes sense that he’d have a good eye for choosing players—soccer has always been his love. Watching his favorite teams play gives him chills. All but one day a week, he’s either playing in his adult league or coaching his youth team. His kids play on their own teams, and family time together on Sunday afternoons usually ends up happening at the soccer fields.

As the coach of Alianza, a team of twelve to fifteen year olds in the Terra Bella Youth Soccer League, his love for the game translates into an investment in the lives of his players. Miguel played in the Terra Bella league himself when he was growing up, and when he turned sixteen, he stuck around as a coach, as do many of the players. Coaching is his way of giving back.

“We try to keep the kids out of the streets, that’s one of the main reasons we do it. We don’t get paid,” he said.

“We try to teach the kids that they can get anything they want. They just have to work for it, and that work will pay off in the end.”

Miguel can back up his message on and off the field.

He started working for Homegrown straight out of

► Right: Alianza coach and France Ranch manager Miguel Lara with his two soccer loving sons. Far right: Team Alianza won their first championship in 2008, the year Homegrown teamed up to sponsor the kids for uniforms and equipment. Pictured here are the 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014 teams. Alianza team trophies are proudly displayed at the office of Homegrown Organic Farms.

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“For nine years I’ve been working for them, and I feel like part of the family. They’re always there for our team and for me.” high school, moved up from the packing shed to the field crew, and was recently promoted to oversee a ranch full time.

Time on the tractor or walking the rows is often spent strategizing for Friday’s game. Quick to offer a thoughtful assessment of his team’s strengths and weaknesses, Miguel is always thinking about how to move his players around to bring out their best. He and his associate coach and friend, Armando Aldaco, keep an eye out for up-and-comers each year. They choose to motivate their players with respectful talk instead of yelling and intimidation. As coaches, they seriously believe that when their players give it their all, they’re winners, whether or not they have more goals than the other team at the end of the game. That philosophy, however, hasn’t been put to much of a test—team Alianza usually comes out ahead.

Homegrown’s sponsorship of Miguel’s team started in 2008 when the team qualified for the finals in the league championship for the first time. The kids were prepared, but they had a problem. They had played the whole season without uniforms, making due with just plain t-shirts and they didn’t want to go into the big game without looking official. Inspiration for a solution came to Miguel one day after practice from an all too appropriate source.

“I had an orange in my hand, and I looked down and saw the Homegrown sticker, and it came to me. I told the kids, ‘Hey, you know what, I’m going to ask my boss if he’ll sponsor us.’

And they said, ‘Yeah, ask him, ask him’,” Miguel remembered.

That year, in their brand new uniforms, the team kicked off their championship winning streak. They’ve continued to make a name for themselves in the league, taking home four championships over the last six years. The trophies bearing each team’s picture stand tall and proud in the office at Homegrown Organic Farms.

“They deserve to keep the trophies. That’s their reward,” Miguel said of his long-time employer. “For nine years I’ve been working for them, and I feel like part of the family.

They’re always there for our team and for me.”

Seeing as Miguel doesn’t plan on giving up his coaching position any time soon, Homegrown may need to consider expanding the display space.

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Sharing the Harvest Shared Burrito Suppers and Farm Sponsored Staff Gardens Fill Bellies and Feed an Atmosphere of Respect

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eeing a taco truck round the corner at Riverbend Organic Farm in Jefferson, Oregon is the sign of an extra productive day.

“Since the very beginning,” said Eric Pond, who oversees farming operations at Riverbend, “When we worked more than twelve hours a day, we provided supper for the crew and brought in a burrito and a soda at five o’clock. We gave a half-hour break and everybody sat down and had supper together.”

Laura Pond, executive assistant at Riverbend and Eric’s wife, explained, “If you leave your home at four in the morning, get to work at five, you can pack a lunch, but to figure out a lunch and a dinner is such a hassle. You don’t have time to cook or bring extra food. So, we brought in the taco truck.”

The crew loved it, and the notion of well-fed employees being happier employees eventually led to another idea: an all staff garden.

“We felt like, we grow all this organic produce, yet the people working on our farms don’t always have access to fresh produce,” Eric remembered.

In response, the Ponds worked with farm owners to set aside a quarter acre of farm land for a garden dedicated to growing produce for employees of the farm.

The first few years, Laura and the Ponds’ daughter Rose drew up the plans and tended the plot. Over time, the responsibility for the garden project has been passed on to the employees of the farm and the

families who live on site. They decide what to grow and care for the plants. Farm management covers the cost of the garden and even provides paid time to weed and tend it. The summer garden in 2014 was big on melons, tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

Additionally, apple trees, a fig tree, and table grapes round out the southeast side.

The staff garden at Riverbend has proven to be so positive that the idea has been implemented at four other farms in Oregon growing blueberries for Homegrown.

The way Eric and Laura see it, contributing to full stomachs does “We felt like, we more than meet an immediate need.

Long-term, considerate care about grow all this organic the practical needs of employees produce, yet the serves to create an environment where they feel valued. It’s an investpeople working on ment into people that pays back in our farms don’t loyalty and individual contributions to producing a healthy crop. always have access to “We felt that if we set this tone fresh produce.” right, people will be happy to work here. They need the job, and we need the berries picked—it’s a mutually beneficial thing—and we have families that come and pick here every year, they want to know when Riverbend is picking,” Eric said, “When people are loyal and they take responsibility for a property, they’re out there catching things ahead of me, they’re finding problems, they’re bringing it up.”

◄ Clockwise from the top: A scene from the staff garden at Riverbend Organic Farm in Jefferson, Oregon. Employees choose what they’d like to grow each summer and farm management covers the cost of seed, equipment, and paid time to tend the garden; Seasonal apples and table grapes add fruit to the garden at Riverbend along the southeast side.

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Hands On Ag Education Bringing Industry Experience and Real World Opportunities to Hometown Students through the Porterville Pathways Linked Learning Program

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► Clockwise from the top: Emerging Agricultural Technologies Pathway sophomores tour the Homegrown packing facility in Kingsburg, California; Students get literal field experience at the school farm at Strathmore High and by visiting local farms and growers; Students helped come up with a real world marketing plan for Homegrown’s freeze-dried organic blueberries.

igh school kids in Homegrown’s own hometown have the opportunity to get their hands dirty and experiment with careers in agriculture through the Porterville Pathways linked learning program. Homegrown grower Tom Avinelis and his son Gunnar, who also works in agriculture, are playing a key roll in bringing real world industry experience to the classroom through their service on the advisory board for the Emerging Agricultural Technologies Pathway.* Advisory board members include both industry professionals and educational leaders, and all are highly involved in the educational process by way of making classroom presentations, having meetings with students, providing networking connections, facilitating field trips, and reviewing curriculum.

“Agriculture is evolving and the need for technical, scientific, and management expertise in agriculture is growing at a tremendous rate. We have a tremendous need in ag today for educated employees. This program really opened the door for industry to get very linked in with the educational process and contribute to the direction,” said Tom, who currently chairs the board.

Being able to bring a broad understanding of the needs of the industry into the heart of the educational process helps get the tools students will need to be successful in the job market in their hands and their heads early on.

In addition to getting a head start on building necessary job skills, Tom and Gunnar hope that students will be able to better see the wide scope of the agricultural industry and the ag-related careers available to them. Gunnar has spent a good deal of time in the classroom involving the students in projects that touch on the process of getting products on the

grocery store shelf, which is his current professional focus. For instance, Gunnar pulled the students in on a marketing project for Homegrown’s freeze-dried organic blueberries. The students were tasked with doing their own consumer research and coming up with recommendations for how this product should be packaged, marketed, and priced. Gunnar taught workshops about creating surveys, organizing findings, and building a marketing plan over the course of the months-long project.

“They might not have connected some of this stuff with agriculture on their own,” Gunnar said, “Growing up in a rural environment myself, as the child of a farmer, I understand some of the students’ misconceptions about what a career in agriculture would look like, and we work hard to provide opportunities to expand their horizons and get kids excited about the opportunities available right in their backyard.”

Gunnar recounted a moment from a recent farm field trip with the students that illustrates the program at its best, “When one of our field engineers showed the group the control panels used to monitor and manage the inputs going to the plants, one of the students asked if there were people who made a living creating and designing things like this. When we told him yes, his face lit up and he said that he’d love to learn about that technology—so he could do something like that every day. That type of enthusiasm is what we are looking to create in these kids, because if motivated, we know they will work harder in the classroom and be better prepared upon graduation.”

For Tom and Gunnar, being a part of the Pathways Program is an opportunity to invest in the education of young people in their community as well as into a brighter future for the industry as a whole.

*In 2009, Porterville USD was one of six California school districts to receive a grant from the James Irvine Foundation to create a linked learning program, which includes ten opt-in, career-themed “pathways” to education. The pathways determine the focus for the students’ core classes as well as educational experiences available outside of the classroom.

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“We work hard to provide opportunities to expand their horizons and get kids excited about the opportunities available right in their backyard.�

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▲ An electrostatic spray rig in action at Riverbend

Organic Farm in Jefferson, Oregon. Using electrostatic spray rigs like this one conserves water, fuel, and equipment.

Conserving with the Power of Physics Electrostatic Technology in Organic Spray Applications Boosts Sustainability and Conserves Resources Now and into the Future 14

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any Homegrown citrus and blueberry farms were among the very first to adopt and experiment with new advanced electrostatic spray technology when it was introduced to the market. The use of this technology in Homegrown farming programs has resulted in a tremendous boost to the farms’ sustainability and a wiser use of resources.

“We started looking at sustainability and our carbon footprint, and we decided that our part in reducing the tonnage of materials sprayed into the atmosphere every year was to start to look at alternative sources for spray applications,” said Don Mabs, who oversees farming operations for several Homegrown citrus farms in California. Don’s team members kept their eyes open and were among the

“The volume of water we use now with the electrostatic sprayer is a fraction of what it was with a conventional sprayer.” first to invest in these advanced electrostatic spray rigs.

“Electrostatic technology affords a tremendous savings.

You use about half the volume of materials, so your cost goes down and it becomes a huge benefit to the environment around us. The volume of water we use now with the electrostatic sprayer is a fraction of what it was with a conventional sprayer. On some sprays we can go down as low as 50 gallons to the acre, compared to say, 250 to 500 gallons to the acre of conventional sprayers,” Don said, adding, “I believe it’s much more efficient.”

Electrostatic sprayers are different because they bring the power of electrostatic forces to the field, giving microscopic water droplets a positive electrical charge as they exit the sprayer through patented spray nozzles. These droplets are then drawn to the negative charge of the plants in the field, clinging even to the undersides of leaves and the far sides of

fruit. The coverage is better, and because of the attraction of spray particles to the plants, the product being applied goes exactly where farmers need it and not into the air as drift.

Electrostatic sprayers are also able to effectively cover more ground more quickly, requiring less spray rig equipment, less labor, and less fuel because fewer fill-ups are needed.

According to Don, the benefits of finding effective uses of continually improving technologies, like these spray rigs, reach even further beyond their immediate application in the field.

“We’re constantly making discoveries as we advance this organic program, and when we find a technology that works and helps save limited resources, it’s a very satisfying feeling, like making a contribution to preserving something for the future generations,” he reflected. “It’s a continual process of discovery.” www.HGOFarms.com

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An Inheritance of Biological Fertility For Over 120 Years, the Peterson Family’s Stone Fruit Has Been Grown with Organic Fertilizer from Their Own Poultry Operation

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► Clockwise from the top: Vernon Peterson shows how much fertilizer is needed to produce a box of peaches in the chicken houses on his home ranch in Kingsburg, California; The poultry manure is mixed with the chickens’ bedding of organic rice hulls or wood shavings; The manure is removed from the chicken houses, loaded into trucks, and spread in the orchards in the fall. What Vernon doesn’t use himself is sold to other organic farms in the area.

hen Homegrown grower Vernon Peterson took over the family farm at age twenty-one, he inherited the system of farming his family had depended on since his great-grandfather settled along the Kings River in 1893. And though the draft horses and mules were replaced with tractors in the 1940s, the integration of fruit and poultry programs has remained a staple of the Peterson family’s approach to farming into the fourth generation.

“I find it fascinating—the different disciplines that are necessary to grow a chicken or to grow a peach. It’s just very professionally challenging and interesting to integrate the different processes,” Vernon said about the production partnership of his organic free-range broiler chickens and his organic stone fruit orchards.

Vernon transitioned his family’s land back to organic production in the early 2000s, but even during the years he was farming conventionally, the farm depended on this mode of biological fertilization. The Petersons fertilize their fields with manure from their poultry houses in the fall while there is still plenty of time before the fruit sets for microbial action to transfer nutrients into the soil.

Several handfuls of Vernon’s homegrown biological fertilizer is enough to nourish an entire tree.

“Up until seventy years ago, everybody farmed organic because there wasn’t all the synthetic stuff.

It used to be a common practice to apply chicken manure. They’ve gotten away from it, but now all the organic growers are getting back to it,” Vernon

commented, explaining that poultry manure is a more potent source of soil nutrition than dairy manure for crops like peaches or oranges.

Vernon’s chicken houses are tucked right up next to The Peterson Family orchards and vineyards. They stand as a sign of an earlier time in farming, as much as the biological fertility source that they provide.

“It’s been interesting to watch the evolution of poultry production,” Vernon said, reflecting on the changes he’s seen in his lifetime compared to his grandpa’s experience farming.

Up until the 1950s there were hundreds and hundreds of small growers across the U.S. who did it all—hatched out their chicks, brought in the feed in 100 pound sacks, and grew and delivered live chickens to grocery stores—and so it was in the early days of the Peterson Family Farm. However, after the industry consolidated, the Petersons, like many other small farmers, became a contract grower that specialized in raising the birds only.

While there might be other fruit farmers that are still producing livestock and crops in partnership like the Peterson Family Farm, Vernon doesn’t know of any.

“It wouldn’t make sense to go out and build chicken houses and plant orchards if we were building from scratch today, but since this was the hand we were dealt, we’ve just continued to keep it up,” he said, “It’s the way we’ve always done it. We enjoy the connectivity of it, and we really enjoy growing everything we do organically.”

“It’s the way we’ve always done it. We enjoy the connectivity of it, and we really enjoy growing everything we do organically.”

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“[As an advocate] you really have t he opportunity to affect change.�

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Standing Up For CASA Kids Farmer and Homegrown Organic Farms Owner John France Advocates for Abused and Neglected Kids through the Tulare County CASA Program

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n the late nineties, as Homegrown Organic Farms was being founded, company owner and organic fruit farmer John France was looking for an outlet to break the intensity of focus brought on by farming’s challenges.

He found Tulare County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and saw firsthand how a wider view of even your own hometown can alter your perspective.

CASA programs exist nationwide to train volunteers to serve as the eyes and ears of the court for children who have been detained in the legal system through no fault of their own. More than just being a mentor or supporter for the children in their charge, it’s the responsibility of CASA advocates to know everything possible about each child’s personal history, emotional well-being, medical and educational situations, and foster care placement. Advocates use this comprehensive understanding to make recommendations to the court on a child’s behalf. For many children, their CASA volunteer is the one constant person in their lives as they grow up in the foster care system.

John’s first two CASA kids were with fifth and sixth grade boys, and his involvement in their lives as their advocate lasted until they graduated high school and left the foster system. In one case, the relationship continues to this day.

“You really have the opportunity to affect change,” John said about the scope of the responsibilities of an advocate. Over the years, he would go to the parentteacher conferences, visit the kids at their foster or group home, respond to emergency situations at school, and show up for court dates.

John found CASA advocacy to be such a good fit

because it enabled him to engage his Christian values of serving and loving others in addition to using the practical resources he had as a farmer: time, flexibility, and experience juggling the demands of multiple agencies. Becoming an advocate was in no way a lighthearted break from the pressures of farming, but it enabled John to positively contribute to the long-term trajectory of kids in his community.

“I was really humbled. My problems, as severe as I felt they maybe were, were on a whole different level than the trauma imposed on these kids literally on a daily basis. If I say to myself something in farming isn’t fair, then—if I’m going to be intellectually honest with myself—I have to judge fairness in the light of the eyes of the children who are abused and neglected and say, ‘Okay John, now what were your problems?’”

John spent over a decade as a CASA volunteer for children before taking an extended leave, though he expects to resume his tenure again in the future.

“The act of giving, many times, has its own reward, and I think that’s what it was with me and CASA,” John said, “I would hate to speculate on how I’ve impacted my kids or not, that answer could only come from them, but I will say that they have impacted me.”

Over 50 percent of the support CASA of Tulare County receives comes from donations from individuals, organizations, and businesses. As Homegrown has grown over the years, the company’s annual financial support of the CASA program has continued.

By giving as a company, John says, “We know with certainty that our dollars are going to benefit people in this community.”

◄ Clockwise from the top: Grapes at France Ranch. John took his CASA kids by the farm while they were young, and when they grew up, he was able to offer them opportunities for employment on France Ranch; The France family; John always made it a point to be present for his CASA kids’ court appointments at the Tulare County courthouse; John with his class of CASA advocates.

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Wielding the Tools of Wise Water Usage Irrigation Monitoring Systems Contribute to Water Conservation by Giving Farmers an Extra Set of Eyes

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he importance of having a firm grasp on the fundamentals of farming will never be replaced by even the most innovative of new technologies; nevertheless, the right tools in the right hands can leverage a farmer’s resources of time and energy to more efficiently achieve goals, including that of resource conservation.

Irrigation monitoring systems are one such tool. While determining soil moisture levels can be done manually, an IMS gives farmers another way to keep track of what’s happening with their crops below ground. These systems are employed by many Homegrown blueberry growers and have also been adopted by several of Homegrown’s citrus growers.

Irrigation monitoring systems rely on solar powered stations placed strategically throughout the field. Each station has a soil probe connected to a computer that measures soil moisture in the root zone of the plant. The station then transmits that data electronically to a website the farmer can access remotely.

The data can influence irrigation decisions. For instance,

“You can monitor when the amount of water that you put into the soil is actually available and being used by the root zone of a particular plant.”

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if the IMS shows that the soil is at or near saturation, a farmer would know much of the water being used is not being utilized and could then avoid putting out more water than the plant needs.

“Your probes are telling you where the water is,” said Don Mabs, who oversees farming operations for several Homegrown citrus farms in California, “You can monitor when the amount of water that you put into the soil is actually available and being used by the root zone of a particular plant, instead of excess water being wasted and going below the root zone.”

Even with the irrigation monitoring systems in place, checking soil moisture manually is still important. At the organic blueberry farms in Oregon, it happens three times a day. Using a soil core sampler, a farmer extracts a cylinder of soil within the root zone of the plant. The look and feel of the soil reveals the moisture levels present. The results of the manually measured samples can then be compared to the data collected by the irrigation monitoring system, to see how the measurements correlate.

“You can use the technology to accelerate your ability to manage more acres because you know what the numbers correlate to, how they feel, the EC (electrical conductivity), and how much moisture the crop is losing or using,” said Eric Pond, who oversees farming operations for several Oregon farms that grow blueberries for Homegrown.

Don agrees, “Skilled irrigators and the technology, both go hand in hand.”

The IMS data can also give a farmer a heads-up about broken irrigation equipment; for instance, if irrigation valves have been manually opened, the IMS data could show that water isn’t making it to all parts of a field or that the wrong field is being watered. A good farmer wouldn’t be far behind in making this discovery in person, but the extra eyes of the IMS can put solutions a few hours or even a day closer. ◄ Far left: Irrigation monitoring station keeping tabs on Oregon blueberries. Left, top to bottom: Eric Pond manually measuring soil moisture levels with a soil core sampler; An irrigation monitoring station in a California citrus grove; Farmers and field managers can access IMS data online on their phones or computers.

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The Art of Aerial Crop Protection Integrated Pest Management Takes to the Sky as Falconers Partner with Nature to Protect Ripe Fruit from Destructive Bird Pests during Harvest Season

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dds of ten thousand to one might sound intimidating, but falconer Getty Pollard of B-1RD LLC isn’t fazed. He knows what his falcons are capable of.

Posing threats of such great numbers to Homegrown blueberry crops are nuisance birds, specifically, European starlings, which travel in flocks of thousands. When one group “We’re working of birds finds a food source, it spreads the word to surrounding flocks, and with a natural if nothing is done to deter the birds, an entire blueberry crop could be relationship lost to a flock of starlings within a and doing it in matter of hours. That’s where birds of prey factor in. a way that’s to “What’s really fun is being able to our advantage take a one or two pound falcon and protect a huge area. It really is kind of and doesn’t amazing,” Getty observed. cause harm.”

Partnering with the natural predatory relationship of falcons and starlings is a method of integrated pest management that fits organic agriculture. Getty calls it “a smart use of tools.”

“We’re working with a natural relationship and doing it in a way that’s to our advantage and doesn’t cause harm,” Getty said. “Falcons are flying in the wild all over the place and having similar effects on birds. To use them to protect a crop from star-

lings is like fighting fire with fire.”

In the fields, Getty’s team of falcon handlers finds the flight patterns of nuisance birds at the farm and then lets the falcons make an appearance in the air. A falcon’s presence is enough to deter the nuisance birds, putting a stop to small starling problems before they escalate into a big problem.

Teams of falcons are in the air, one at time, for eight to twelve hours a day, six days a week for two months, or as long as the fruit is ripe and vulnerable.

“We’re doing a massive negative conditioning program on starlings, making a high-pressure, high-predatory presence in an area,” Getty explained.

Other organic methods for deterring starlings such as covering crops with nets and blasting propane cannons are effective on a smaller scale, but they’re expensive, disruptive, and fall short of what steady falcon pressure can do in a large area.

“Falcons are really quiet and are able to do the job effectively,” said Eric Pond, who oversees farming operations for Homegrown blueberry farms in Oregon, noting that a falcon can do the work that would otherwise require three to four people.

Eric has been using this form of integrated pest management to protect crops on the farms he oversees since 2009 and has found it to be the most effective way to keep Homegrown blueberries from falling prey to nuisance birds.

► Clockwise from the top: European starlings cause millions of dollars in damage to the agricultural industry each year; Chaco, Getty’s twelve-year-old saker falcon is a veteran of crop protection; (left to right) Getty holds Chaco with Eric Pond of Riverbend Organic Farms, and falcon handler Lee Phelps in a falcon-protected crop of ripe blueberries; Saker falcons can fly 150 miles per hour and protect an area of up to 1,000 acres.

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Smarter Weed Management Weed Matting For Water Conservation and Day One Organic Orchards

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hough it’s common practice today, just ten years ago, laying a fabric weed mat down a row of newly planted trees was an anomaly, even in organic agriculture. Several Homegrown farmers, however, were early adopters of this chemical-free method of weed control for new plantings.

“We were the first ones able to take a citrus orchard and commit it to organic when the trees were planted, and make it successful. That’s huge,” said Don Mabs, who oversees farming operations for several Homegrown citrus farms in California. “Most of the time, people gave up because they had too much competition of natural growth weeds.”

As tiny as weeds begin, they can pose a very serious threat to young trees. Weeds compete for the existing nutrients and water in the soil and can also grow to shade out new plantings. In conventional agriculture, farmers shock the soil with chemical herbicides to prevent weeds from growing, but, a weed mat serves the same purpose without harmful chemicals by simply blocking sunlight from reaching the soil, preventing weed seeds from germinating.

Drip irrigation lines are installed underneath the weed mats before plants go into the ground, and the fabric that keeps the sunlight away from weed seeds also seems to keep moisture from the drip lines in the soil.

“We’re finding that under the weed matting, there appears to be better water retention.” Don said. “Instead of evaporating a lot of moisture

out of the soil, it holds on to it. So, it’s a more efficient use of irrigation. With the drip lines, it’s a great water savings, and the trees do well.”

Another unexpected benefit is the way weed matting seems to positively affect the microbial activity in the soil, which for an organic farmer, is very good news.

“The rootage reveals the microbial differences under the weed matting. There are these massive roots that are in the tillable soil in your profile, just phenomenal,” Don said.

In addition to the fabric mats for young plantings, stone fruit farmers can put a biological solution in place to ward off summer weed competition in their mature orchards: winter weeds.

Several years into his transition to organic farming, Homegrown grower Vernon Peterson decided not to mow down the winter weeds running rampant on the berms in his stone fruit orchards. He found that the winter weeds would grow tall while stone fruit trees were dormant in the cold, rainy months, but these weeds couldn’t survive the next season’s heat and would die naturally. Allowing winter weeds to dry into a thick covering suppresses the growth of the summer weeds in the same way a fabric weed mat would. It’s a biological solution that provides tremendous savings on fuel use and labor.

Other notable approaches used by Homegrown growers for organic weed control include mulch from old orchard wood (when available), and for mature citrus trees, natural shade cover.

◄ Clockwise from the top: Don Mabs inspecting ripening mandarins in an orchard where fabric weed matting was used to start the young plantings organically; California blueberries benefiting from a weed mat berm cover; Other methods for discouraging weeds include wood mulch or creating a biological weed mat of dead winter weeds.

“It’s a more efficient use of irrigation. With the drip lines, it’s a great water savings, and the trees do well.” www.HGOFarms.com

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Trucking Charity Fruit Existing Produce Delivery Route Doubles as a Way to Bring Discounted Organic Fruit to Non-Profits and Feeding Programs Across the State

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ummer fruit harvest in the Central Valley means farmers are working fourteen hour days, fruit packing sheds are busy around the clock, and peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots are everywhere you look.

And while most of that fruit ends up on a grocery store shelf to delight customers across the country and the world, cosmetically challenged fruit—with defects in appearance but otherwise perfect—can become an underutilized resource, according to Vernon Peterson, who “We’d rather runs the Homegrown fruit packing support our facility in Kingsburg, California.

Finding the best use for that community and see resource, Vernon says is, “Just another the cosmetically part of why we’re here. We need to challenged fruit go look at all of our resources as God’s resources and ask, ‘How can we use to a great cause and them in the most responsible way?’”

Among the resources Vernon give good nutrition has at his disposal is a system for to somebody who delivering produce across the state, through Abundant Harvest Organics, needs it.” his CSA-style farm share service that weekly brings organic fruits and vegetables to over ninety communities in California from San Diego to Redding.

Those two resources combined, trucking and available fruit, have turned what started a few summers ago as an informal agreement between Vernon and a representative of SOVA Community

Food and Resource Program in Los Angeles into an annual statewide program that makes fresh organic fruit available for charitable causes at the greatly reduced price of ten cents a pound.

“Through Abundant Harvest our truck is already in those towns, we’ve already paid to get the truck there. If there’s room on the truck and if we have product here, why shouldn’t we get nutritious organic food into the inner-city for a dime a pound?” Vernon said.

Vernon’s daughter Heather Mondello, who is the Abundant Harvest operations director, coordinates the charity fruit program. She agrees saying, “We’d rather support our community and see the cosmetically challenged fruit go to a great cause and give good nutrition to somebody who needs it.”

The charity fruit program is open to any group with a good cause and a representative willing to meet the truck to pick up the fruit and return old fruit crates. Churches, rescue missions, soup kitchens, community centers, nursery schools, and other non-profits with charitable feeding programs can send in a weekly order, which will be delivered when the Abundant Harvest trucks drop off fruit and veggie boxes in their communities.

The charity fruit is sourced from a group of about fifteen to twenty stone fruit growers who pack their fruit at the Homegrown packing shed in Kingsburg. In 2014, Homegrown growers donated 28,890 pounds of fruit to over fifteen organizations across the state.

► Clockwise from the top: Summer fruit is never lacking in the heart of America’s stone fruit industry. While most fruit goes on to be enjoyed by customers around the country and the world, some of Homegrown’s cosmetically challenged fruit is destined to bring nutrition to charity feeding programs across California; Abundant Harvest Organics truck drivers deliver Homegrown fruit to charity organizations when they make their weekly produce deliveries.

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For the Benefit of All Provisions for Job Security, Vision and Dental Insurance, and Retirement Savings on the Inside, and Building Infrastructure for Community Enrichment on the Outside

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dding winter citrus to the packing schedule along with stone fruit and pomegranates three years ago allowed The Peterson Family, who run Homegrown’s Kingsburg, California fruit packing facility, to provide their employees with year-round work. Full time, yearround work can be hard to come by in agriculture jobs, though the benefits it brings to both employees and the industry are wide reaching. They include quality of community and family life “You become and the blessing of an expertly skilled workforce. connected to the “A part of our motto is, we farm, and deliver the most delicious, people you work package nutritious, organic products in ways with; you want to that benefit everyone involved. That’s everyone involved. So it’s part of our do what you can, motto, part of our mission statement that our employees should benefit, the when you can, to community at large should benefit,” help people.” Vernon Peterson said.

Employees have always been able to purchase the fresh produce that comes through the packing shed at cost, but when the family company experienced a change of seasons a few years back and became profitable after weathering through a difficult financial time, more benefits for employees could be materialized in new ways.

“You can’t do these things unless you’re profitable, there has to be surplus income,” Vernon said, “And when there was, we started thinking, what more can we do to help people?”

The Peterson Family put together a benefits package that included vision and dental insurance for employees and their families and a 3 percent matching 401k retirement savings program. All employees were included, from the office, to the packing shed, to the field. And though it can be tough to find year-round work in ag, it’s nearly impossible to find company benefits that extend to all positions.

“You become connected to the people you work with; you want to do what you can, when you can, to help people,” Vernon said.

In the outside world, long before the benefits program was established inside the company walls, Vernon was involved in helping to establish infrastructure for the Kingsburg Community Assistance Program (Kcaps); he’s been on the board for over thirty years. In the last five years, Kcaps has established branches in the nearby communities of Traver and London. “They’re in our backyard,” Vernon said, continuing, “I have a lot of employees that come from these communities.”

Kcaps is now a self-sustaining organization that brings in money through thrift store sales.

The non-profit provides clothing, food assistance, ESL classes, after school tutoring, and job training classes. The Traver and London properties include community parks, playgrounds, and places for church meetings and other community gatherings.

Both inside and outside company walls, the goal remains the same, to use resources and abilities to make a way for people to be empowered to improve their lives and their families’ futures.

► Clockwise from the top: Peterson Family employees keep the Homegrown packing house in Kingsburg running year round; Field crews harvest stone fruit and pomegranates and maintain orchards for many Homegrown stone fruit growers. All employees and their families, from the field, to the packing shed, to management, are eligible for vision and dental insurance coverage and a 3 percent matching 401k retirement savings program.

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