Swanton Berry Farm

FARMLAND: Leases 80 acres in two locations in Santa Cruz County (approximately 80 miles to Ferry Plaza Farmers Market).

FARM HISTORY/PHILOSOPHY: Jim founded Swanton Berry Farm in 1983 with the goal of providing flavorful strawberries that were not grown at the expense of farm workers' health or dignity. Over the years, Swanton has become an industry leader in developing organic methods for growing strawberries.

The two foundations of Swanton's farming methods are soil building and crop diversity. They spend several years building up the soil before they plant strawberries and then rotate crops around the fields to control diseases and pests. Since 1987, researchers from the University of California at Santa Cruz have studied Swanton's methods and reported them in various publications. While Swanton Berry Farm was once alone in the organic strawberry business, now more farmers have been encouraged to try. They are happy to share their experience in order to encourage other farmers to adopt organic methods.

In addition to taking care of the land, Swanton Berry Farm tries to take good care of its workers. It was the first strawberry farm (and the first organic farm) in the U.S. to sign a contract with the United Farm Workers of America/AFL-CIO, in its current effort to organize strawberry workers.

SOIL: Forty acres of clay and 40 acres of sand are built with compost, cover crops, crop residues, and organic fertilizers.

WEED CONTROL: Hand and mechanical cultivation; plastic mulch on the strawberries.

PEST MANAGEMENT: Release of beneficial insects and maintenance of their habitat, application of organic pesticides, field sanitation, crop rotation, selection of resistant varieties, and pheromone disruption for artichokes.

WATER USE: Drip and sprinkler irrigation; one ranch gets water from the city and the other has a three-reservoir system.

WORKERS: Ten full-time and 20 seasonal

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION: CCOF since 1990