Organic Movement Sprouts New Crop of Farmers
July 24, 2009
Joan Obra/The Fresno BEE
In the Valley and across the country, there is a new force in agriculture: environmentally minded young farmers. Some are urbanites cultivating small fields. Others grew up on farms and are returning home. And among college students or recent graduates who are passionate about food, interning on a farm is a rite of passage. John Teixeira, a Firebaugh farmer who maintains an organic ranch for interns, says he has received more than 50 inquiries this year. "We've had tremendous interest," he says. "They want to grow their own food. That's the craze."
 Questions about food production lead these youngsters to the fields. Some read "The Omnivore's Dilemma," author Michael Pollan's critique of industrial agriculture. They buy food from small farms, both to support local businesses and preserve farmland. They're concerned about chemicals in their diets. And they're recruiting more farmers. In December, 170 young farmers from around the country attended a conference at the Stone Barns Center For Food & Agriculture in New York -- far more than expected, organizers say. They're even documenting their movement in "The Greenhorns," an upcoming film.
Amber Balakian works with her grandmother Stella Balakian in the packinghouse of their farming operation, Balakian Farms, in Reedley. Amber got a degree from Harvard University but returned to Reedley to work on her family's organic farm. The trend helps offset a problem in agriculture: the aging of the nation's farmers. According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average age of all farmers is 57, up from 55 in 2002.
Young farmers such as Nikiko Masumoto, 23, exemplify the trend. "By going to U.C. Berkeley, I was able to look at what my family has done through different perspectives," says Masumoto, the daughter of Del Rey author and organic peach-and-raisin farmer David Mas Masumoto. "Those perspectives allowed me to realize that I could practice my passions for social justice and environmental sustainability through our farm." Her peers have similar interests. "It's just hilarious, all of these friends deciding to work on organic farms," she says. "It's like their domestic Peace Corp experience."
Not all young farmers distrust conventional agriculture. In the central San Joaquin Valley, the nation's capital of food production, it's common for children to follow in the footsteps of their farmer parents. "It's almost expected," says Michelle Shackelford of Robert Johnson Farms, a 450-acre conventional farm in Madera that grows raisins and table grapes. After working in San Francisco as a Goldman Sachs analyst and a buyer at Williams-Sonoma corporate headquarters, Shackelford returned home about five years ago. The reason was simple: "I think what my family does is a very noble business and I wanted to keep that going," says Shackelford, now 33.
In the world of agriculture, so-called greenhorns still are a niche movement, says Dave Goorahoo, a Fresno State soil scientist who sits on the transitional steering council of the Sustainable Agriculture Education Association. But they help fill consumer demand for sustainable and organic food, which "are the fastest growing trends in agriculture right now," he adds. Organic food played a role in Bryce Loewen's journey back to Blossom Bluff Orchards in Parlier. Loewen, 31, spent a decade in the Bay Area, where he became a strict vegan for three or four years. "I think that definitely affected my perceptions of organic agriculture," he says.
After abandoning plans for a career in digital animation, Loewen worked the farmers markets, selling his parents' organic stone fruit. "I left the area because I wasn't interested in farming, and then found out along the way that I was interested," says Loewen, who returned to the Valley in January.
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