Rancho Gordo

PEOPLE: Steve Sando along with 1 part-time employee

ABOUT: Unsatisfied with the tomatoes he was buying at the grocery store, Steve began growing his own in 2000. His quest for flavorful, interesting varieties led to what would become a personal passion and the focus of his business: preserving heirloom varieties of traditional foods of the Americas and introducing those varieties to the general public. Many of the varieties that Steve offers he has obtained during his own travels throughout Mexico and Central America. In 2005, Steve founded the Family Farm League, an advocacy group that encourages food production in the Napa Valley, an area dominated by viticulture.

SOURCING: Steve works with a number of farmers, most of whom are based in the Sacramento Delta area, to produce the beans, wild rice and other products that he brings to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. All bean varieties are trialed in Steve's test gardens in Napa and if they pass muster, are grown for seed. Seeds are then passed along to his partner farmers for commercial production. The farms are not currently organic. The corn that goes into Rancho Gordo’s tortillas and chips is grown in Central and Northern California.