SUNRISE ORGANICS, BUELLTON

Chuy Salas (Sunrise Organics) is a relatively new farmer that was trained by John Givens. Just a little over 8 years ago, he was farming in Carpinteria on just 5 acres. Now he’s grown to 100 acres in Buellton. Chuy does farmers markets mostly in LA and has a giant wholesale business where he gets his produce all over the country. By how ambitious he is, we wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the new Cal Organics is just a few years.

ALCANTAR ORGANICS, MOORPARK

Jose Alcantar (Alcantar Organics) is a really good family friend and has helped us huge along the way. Jose was mostly trained by Tutti Frutti Farms in Lompoc. Jose has several different farms but currently his biggest farm that he focuses the most is in Moorpark. Jose does lots of farmers markets in Ventura and LA. He also sells to smaller restaurants. We love Jose!

SOMETHINGS GOOD ORGANICS, GOLETA

John Givens is just about the best farmer around. Jon Givens helped train Chuy Salas and Alex Frecker. John Givens has been farming since about the 70s also and his main farm is centered in Goleta. Although John is able to really crush his farm game because he also has other “smaller” farms in Buellton and GAViota giving him ability to have to have a deep rotation of plantings. It’s taken us over five years to break John’s shy sense of being but he’s opened up and how we know why his employees have the utmost respect for him.

SHEPHERD FARMS, GAVIOTA

This is Tom Shepherd (Shepherd Farms). He is farming in Buellton now around the Folded Hills winery on Nojoqui Park Road, but he has been a stalwart of Santa Barbara County organic farming since 1973. Tom loves to grow strawberries, melons, and heirloom tomatoes. You won’t see much product coming from this guy over the winter months though because where he farms sees extreme frost and his yields are far from abundant. But in the summer we love everything he grows!

FRECKER FARMS, CARPINTERIA

Alex Frecker (Frecker Farms) was trained by John Givens. He’s been farming independently for a little over 8 years. He started with just five acres in Carpinteria and now he’s at 50 acres. Alex is ambitious as heck and is charging thru life. He’s in most of the SB Farmers markets these days. His farm business is growing like crazy and it’s been awesome to watch him take off. He’s young & humble and works incredibly hard.

CUYAMA ORCHARDS, CUYAMA

Byron Albano’s (Cuyama Orchards) Father bought land and began planting apples nearly 30 years ago. What started as a small apple orchard and a larger hay farm, has evolved into one fo the few remaining apple farms in Southern California and the last of it’s kind in the cuyama valley. Byron takes great joy in learning and adapting, his ever evolving trellising strategies, and his soil care are all a testament to this.

CAMINO VIEJO, Filmore

El Camino Viejo is the farm of Guadalupe Rojas, a multigenerational farmer from Guerrero, Mexico, where his family has cultivated corn, maize, and sorghum for generations. Today, he tends 5 acres in Fillmore, growing corn, watermelon, strawberries, peppers, chard, carrots, and squash. Guided by the land as his teacher, Guadalupe is committed to organic practices like cover cropping and crop rotation. He is also highly creative in finding natural solutions to farming challenges, such as injecting olive oil into his water lines to combat moths in his corn crop. Through El Camino Viejo, he continues his family’s legacy while nurturing healthy soil, biodiversity, and community.