Cultivating the family dream

ree generations develop the Pierce Farm Center

Pierce Farm Center Director Robert McBroom grew up in North Hills, Calif. on a three-quarter acre lot where he raised animals and showed at fairs as an 11-year-old member of 4-H agriculture and farming club.

“He raised every animal known to God and man,” his 82-year-old mother, Agnes McBroom said.

It’s easy to see where Robert McBroom derives a good part of his ability. His mother has a tenacious resume that includes stints on executive committees and boards ranging from Soroptimists International to 4-H and several health care and family foundations, to boot.

As a child, Robert McBroom raised and sold quail. That business took off rapidly from a dozen quail to more than 3,000 in just one year. Later, he cultivated hydroponic basil, he said.

McBroom attended Pierce College and took Professor Skidmore’s agriculture business and marketing class.

Skidmore forced his hand into attending a poultry convention in Fresno, Calif. widening McBroom’s perspective and, he says, acting as a turning point in his professional life, which is harmonically fused to his family and community life.

Robert and Cathy McBroom have been married for 13 years and have three children together, daughter Jordan, 11, son Brody, 9, and son Mason, 3. Husband and wife both worked for Joe Cicero at Cicero’s Pierce farm stand when they were young themselves.

Roy Barker, Robert McBroom’s father-in-law, has long worked with him and says that he has always wanted to do something like the Pierce Farm Center (PFC) since his time in 4-H.

“He calls this his dream,” Barker said.

His dream is truly a family farm enterprise. Cathy McBroom runs the administration, Robert McBroom runs the operations, Roy Barker alternates between maintenance and babysitting the youngest McBrooms as do Agnes and Bob McBroom. Even middle child, Brody, has his own food cart called “Fancy B’s.”

“[Cathy] works right along side him,” Barker said. “They both work hand and foot.”

They first opened shop at the site of a closed Levitz warehouse in Northridge, Calif. in 1997 after a year of building, organizing and budgeting. One year later, they moved to a Boeing lot at 8900 De Soto Ave. in Chatsworth, Calif. where they stayed until security changes after Sept. 11 forced them to leave.

“Some things are winners - some things are losers,” Robert McBroom said. “You’ve got to kind of shake it and figure out what you’re going to make a change to, but you can’t give up – you’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Desiree “Desi” Cooper is market supervisor and has been with

PFC for seven years and says the McBrooms put employees first, themselves second.

“That man, I tell you, he is something else. He has so many ideas and what he has done here from what it used to be: it’s phenomenal –it’s crazy,” Cooper said. “He’s got the drive – he’s got the bite.”

Agnes McBroom is helping her son establish a legacy foundation to continue the message of PFC.

“We want something to have the sustainability of the farm and agriculture in the San Fernando Valley - so the children growing up when they see a chicken they know what a chicken looks like. It’s not a plastic wrapped thing in a supermarket,” she said.

Robert McBroom cares for his community and his family and he puts his money where his heart is.

“When I started having cardiac arrhythmias,” Agnes McBroom said, “Robert said, ‘You’re done.’ So I came home one day and he said, ‘I just spent $14,000.’ I said ‘on what?’ He said, ‘I just bought a corn roaster.’ He did this so I wouldn’t go back to work.”

Agnes and Bob McBroom joined other family members and those like family who work at the farm.

“Fancy B’s” was built for Brody McBroom who has wanted to be a chef since he was 5 years old, Cathy McBroom said. “When one of our vendors was going out of business and selling that, they came to us and asked us if we were interested – my husband and I just looked at each other and said, ‘We have to make Brody’s dream come true.’”