Farming's future
New breed of agri-curious entrepreneurs emphasizes 'growing food responsibly'
A DIFFERENT SORT OF OFFICE: Paula Manolo, an economics graduate from Stanford and a one-time office dweller in Washington, D.C., plants basil at Heart Arrow Ranch in Redwood Valley north of Ukiah. The ranch is among the fields she and her boyfriend lease and tend as part of their business, Mendocino Organics.
Photos by John Burgess / The Press DemocratPublished: Friday, June 18, 2010 at 1:34 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, June 18, 2010 at 1:34 p.m.
As Mendocino County residents dash off to work during the morning rush hour, Paula Manolo and her boyfriend, Adam Gaska, are hard at work at an entirely different kind of office: A 4-acre plot on land near Ukiah.
The biodynamic farm, situated on Heart Arrow Ranch (which is owned by Golden Vineyards), is among the fields the couple leases and tends as part of their business, Mendocino Organics.
By September, the duo will be farming a total of 50 acres as their primary occupation.
Manolo, 28, and Gaska, 31, are not alone. At a time when farm revenues are declining along with the national economy, a number of young and “agri-curious” Sonoma and Mendocino county residents are turning to farming as a viable profession.
This influx of fresh blood comes just in time. The average age of Sonoma County farmers has risen steadily for the past 30 years, peaking at 56 in 2009. The new generation also has introduced a new way of thinking to the profession. Most have turned to farming to help improve the way food is grown and to make communities more self-sustaining.
“For us farming is about much more than production and consumption,” says Manolo. “It's about growing food responsibly, using the Earth sustainably and giving back whenever possible. It truly is a way of life.”
Many members of this new breed refer to themselves as “Greenhorns,” an eco-conscious play on a compound word that has come to mean “novice.”
The group has spawned quite an organic community. A number of participants met up this spring at a lively mixer at the Baker Creek Seed Bank in Petaluma, while others frequently “meet” on online forums and message boards to share best practices and chat about challenges associated with the farming life.
There's even a documentary film about this nationwide phenomenon titled, simply, “Greenhorns.”
Among all of the local Greenhorns, Manolo and Gaska are perhaps the most adventuresome. They are growing sweet corn, beans, winter squash and melons, and they raise sheep and chickens for meat, and cows for milk.
Their average day begins around 5:30 or 6 a.m., when the pair gets up to water plants in their greenhouse, feed animals and move chickens to a new part of the pasture. Later, they might tend to some of their 100 sheep, or look after the nine cows that hang together on leased land in the Potter Valley. They also might head out to inspect some of the irrigated pasture land they run.
By the end of the day, the duo has crisscrossed the Ukiah area, tending to just about every parcel they farm.
“It's a lot of transit time, since there's a lot to keep track of,” says Manolo, a native of rural Maryland. “Most people in our shoes are handling a few acres, max; we've decided to take on more.”
These efforts facilitate two different lines of business. First, Mendocino Organics sells vegetables at local (read: Mendocino County only) farmers markets. The farm also runs a robust Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, through which weekly batches of produce (and, in some cases, meat) are distributed to individuals and restaurants alike.
Manolo estimates that roughly 80 percent of the farm's business comes from CSA efforts, including a huge chunk from a CSA-oriented relationship the farm has with Bar Agricole, a restaurant in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood.
“They've partly capitalized our season this year,” she says, noting that even with this relationship, the farm isn't earning very much. Mendocino Organics received a $10,000 grant from a local nonprofit to help fund a seasonal employee for the summer. “It sounds clichéd, but every little bit helps,” Manolo said.
The Greenhorn experience isn't identical for everyone; thanks in part to help from family members and friends, other Wine Country Greenhorns have vastly different realities than Manolo and Gaska.
At Wild Rose Ranch outside Santa Rosa, for instance, farmers Elli Hilmer and Balyn Rose are farming land on Sonoma Mountain that belongs to Hilmer's uncle.
At Foggy River Farm in north county, Emmett Hopkins farms family land south of Healdsburg, some of the same land on which he grew up. Hopkins says his business is driven mostly by sales at the weekly Healdsburg and Windsor farmers markets, though a CSA program comprises about 50 percent of current profits.
How sustainable is the Greenhorn model? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, agri-curious entrepreneurs say they'll continue to do what they like to do best: farm.
At Mendocino Organics, the plan for the immediate future actually includes expansion — 44 new acres in the Potter Valley, and an effort to buy more cows.
While Manolo admits the move is risky in a sagging economy, she says the only way the farm is going to make more money is if it expands its volume and product offerings, a reality that cannot occur without growth.
At Foggy River, Hopkins says he's willing to suffer short-term losses for the promise of something bigger and better down the road.
“We are committed to doing this for the long-term,” he says. “I believe that some years down the road, as fuel costs rise, more and more of our food will need to come from very nearby, so the more we can help to develop farming resources in Sonoma County, the more self-sufficient the region will be in the future.”
Matt Villano is a freelancer based in Healdsburg.
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