Name
of Farm: Lucero Organic Farm Farmers: Ben Lucero
and Karen Toombs Address: PO Box
797
Lodi, California Phone: 209.334.6136 Email:lucerofarm@yahoo.com
History
You could say that Ben Lucero has been an organic farmer since he was a child. Ben is of Native American descent, and grew up in Watsonville where his parents worked in the fields of the surrounding farms, picking different crops as the seasons changed - plums, leaf vegetables, cotton. When he was four or five, he would spend the day in the cotton field with his parents, and was given a little cotton-picking bag to keep him busy, and he would pick cotton and put it in the bag. Field harvesters were paid in coupons in those days, and Ben was given his own little coupon, which he redeemed at the company store.
When he was a little older, he began to keep a small garden near the house where he lived. He and his brother would have competitions to see who could grow the most vegetables. They had no access to chemicals or outside inputs, and they kept rabbits and chickens as pets so they used the manure as their fertilizer. So Ben was a small-scale organic farmer before he hit puberty!
As teenager, Ben worked as a harvester in summertime - picking apples, strawberries, bushberries, and lettuce. After graduating from high school he spent a year at junior college, but then returned to field work. In his twenties he got a job at UC Santa Cruz as a draftsman and worked there 5 years, but always did some organic gardening or farming on the side. In 1969 he started his first organic farm - on about 2 acres of land in Capitola where a couple let him farm in their little field. He sold his produce to a fruit market that sold only organic food. He began to read books and magazines about organic farming and began implementing biological techniques such as companion planting. But the couple broke up and he lost that land.
For the next years he worked as a gardener and landscaper. In the late 70s he began an organic cherry tomato farm that did well its first year, but by the second year became hamstrung by a complex labor situation - The United Farm Workers had come into being and was sponsoring lots of strikes, and farmworkers began asking for higher pay that the farm couldn't afford. The farm folded in its second year.
Over the next ten years Ben kept trying to succeed as a farmer in various ventures, but, as he puts it, "the main problem was that there were no farmers markets." Everything Ben grew had to be sold wholesale, through a broker. He never knew what price he was going to get until after it was marketed, and so had to wait many weeks before getting paid. There was also a string of crippling deductions made from the wholesale price. There were deductions for the marketing and shipping, and also two commissions deducted: one for the broker at the docks and another for the broker at the wholesale house. Because truckers would no longer deliver small amounts of vegetables, he would have to drive to the city between midnight and 2am to do it himself. Sometimes the wholesaler would end up dumping the produce because they hadn't been able to move it fast enough, and Ben would have to pay the dumping fee. By the time he did get paid, it was very little. As he says, it was "ridiculous - one big mess."
In 1989 Ben began selling at farmers markets and everything turned around. Direct marketing to customers enabled him to begin making an income. He still grows too much to sell it all through farmers markets, so supplements with sales to wholesalers that are still unpredictable. For 12 years he farmed successfully on leased land in San Martin. But in 2001, the two owners of the property decided to separate their land. One of the owners told Ben he could continue to farm on his parcel, so Ben planted his strawberries and raspberries as usual for the coming season. But at the last minute, the owners decided to switch plots, and Ben was forced to pull out all his crops mid-season, and vacate the property. He considered taking the owners to court, but decided it wasn't worth it. He had previously acquired 2 acres in Lodi and so he transplanted each of his strawberry and raspberry plants to this other property. The strawberries survived but production was very low. All the raspberry plants died.
In Lodi, he sought out more acreage. He convinced one of his neighbors to lease him a 4-acre parcel, and then discovered that over a foot of topsoil was missing - creating challenges he is still dealing with. He also leased 7 acres a few miles away, where he's planted tomatoes and peppers.
Karen became involved with Lucero farm first as a farmers market customer. She shopped at the Lucero stand at the San Jose farmers market - she loved the food and thought it tasted different from all the others. She was invited to help out selling at the stand, and eventually began going to the farm and working together with Ben. The rest, as they say, is history. She fell in love with the farmer, and became increasingly involved in both the growing and sales aspects of the farm. She and Ben have been partners since 1996, and she's found her strong commitment to ecological issues and her experiences as an organic gardener make organic farming (and Ben!) a great match. She also runs a business teaching children's art part-time in Cupertino.
Products
Strawberries, Raspberries, Tomatoes, Peppers, Tomatillos, Eggplant, Summer squash, Salsa Packs (which include garlic he grows just for salsa) All products are certified organic by CCOF.
3 or more varieties of tomatoes, chopped and mixed together
olive oil to taste
vinegar to taste
(Stay away from salt...experience how much flavor is there without salt!)
Preparation:
Chop the tomatoes, stir in the olive oil and vinegar, and enjoy!
Also, try making Salsa from one of Lucero's Salsa Packs, available at his market stands:
Each pack contains:
Hot peppers
Tomatoes
Mild peppers
Tomatillos
Garlic
Chop all and mix! (You can also make a spicy sauce, by cooking the salsa for a few minutes in a sauté pan over medium-high heat).
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