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April 22, 2016
Farmside Chats
Sitting Down with One of Our Organic Farm Partners
A great thing about working closely with our partner farms is that we get a chance to meet them and really get to know them as people. Since you might want to get to know them too, we’ve set up a series called Farmside Chats. It’ll be a Q&A that’ll bring one of our partner farms and their produce to life.
Meet Duncan Family Farms—because, the more you know about them and their baby spinach, the better it’ll taste.
What prompted you to farm organically?
An accidental experiment with composting lead us to experience positive results on our u-pick operations back in the late ’80s. After spreading some hay bales that were already breaking down onto our u-pick field, we noticed a big difference in the health of the plants and the soils. We’ve always been focused on soil health and responsible agronomic farming methods, but we weren’t a “certified organic” farm back then. After we saw the vigor of the plants, we continued to experiment and ultimately became focused on organic farming methods. We continue to create all of our own compost, which not only supports and builds healthy soils and strong plants but diverts green waste from our landfills.
We have on-farm composting operations at each one of our current locations. Our on-farm composting program allows us to create a food-safe, biologically-superior product that’s the basis of our soil nutrient program. We strive to cultivate soils with the highest populations of the most biologically diverse organisms. Soils like this result in plants with better flavor, texture and shelf-life. Stronger plants can also fight off pressures from pests of all kinds like soil and foliar plant diseases or insects.
What methods work best for you? Don’t work?
Very simple…take care of the land you farm and take care of the people who work for you and your community at large. Building and maintaining healthy soils is the basis of growing strong plants that taste great and are good for you. We pay close attention to our agronomic programs and how we can continue to build scale without compromising sustainable farming methods.
What does not work for us is taking short cuts. Our culture values collaboration and doing things the right way every time.
How have you coped with the drought?
We’ve been fortunate enough to have wells still pumping water at our Central Valley and Central Coast operations. However, we make a strong effort to conserve as much water as possible. We’ve moved away from set irrigation schedules, and we water only as necessary. We run highly efficient irrigation equipment which we’re always looking to improve upon. One of our biggest water conservation methods comes from applying compost to all of our acreage. Our compost acts like a sponge to retain adequate moisture levels longer than the native soils we plant on.
What’s your best crop? Why?
Our baby spinach is one of our highest yielding crops, but it also presents us with our greatest challenge. The biggest challenge being the mildew epidemic which has plagued baby spinach farmers for years. Instead of letting the mildew get the best of us, we’re determined to outsmart it.
What’s an average day like?
Everyday is different, but the ability to wake up every morning to pursue our passion is a gift that working the land gives back when you tend to it with care.