Organic Methods Setting Examples (Co-Op Type Farm)

Jason McKenney of Half Moon Bay wanted to make a political statement. Not by marching in the streets. Not by boycotting big business. Not by signing a petition.

In this day and age of mega-scale corporate farming, 34-year-old McKenney, who studied environmental studies and biology at Brown University, ekes out a living growing organically on all of three leased acres along the coast.

There, among the rows of potatoes, garlic, onions, kale, chard, arugula, mustard, parsley and Forellenschluss (an heirloom lettuce with green leaves speckled with burgundy), McKenney makes his point.

``This is the way agriculture should be,'' he says about his farm, Purisima Greens, which he has operated for the past eight years. ``I wanted to do something to work progressively toward a potentially better environmental future.''

So did his business partner, Rachael Van Laanen, 29, who along with him does all the work on the farm.

``You think about the profound impact that humans have on the Earth in agriculture,'' says Van Laanen, who has a degree in environmental studies from the University of California-Santa Cruz. ``Knowing all the environmental destruction, you think how can you do it in a better way.''

For them, that way means farming without chemicals and without harming the land. And it means knowing their customers, many on a first-name basis. McKenney and Van Laanen sell custom salad blends to coastal restaurants Cetrella, Navio and Cafe Gibraltar. They also sell their produce at the Alemany Boulevard Saturday farmers market in San Francisco. But the bulk of what they grow goes to subscribers in their Community Supported Agriculture program. Customers pay $450 for a big box of fresh organic produce delivered to them once a week for 30 weeks. That program provides McKenney and Van Laanen a steady income they wouldn't have otherwise.

McKenney had been working on a Pescadero farm that was growing produce for discriminating, high-end Bay Area restaurants such as Chez Panisse and Oliveto before he started Purisima Greens. And Van Laanen had tended the gardens at San Mateo schools before she decided she wanted a more real farming experience and joined him.

Together, they've weathered a blight that killed their largest potato planting in 1998, struggled for six years until they hit upon just the right strawberry variety to grow, miraculously scraped together $5,000 when the transmission unexpectedly dropped out of their tractor, and managed to survive even when the nearby creek, the primary source of their farm water, went dry one year.

``There are always serious pit-of-the-stomach, `Oh my god, this business might go under any day' feelings,'' McKenney says.

Do they ever think about quitting? ``Every winter and spring,'' McKenney says with a laugh. ``We work so hard on something that is making us no money.''

Indeed, during the winter, McKenney takes construction jobs to help support his wife and newborn, and Van Laanen works on farms in Spain to earn extra cash.

So what they consider their biggest challenge probably comes as no surprise: Swaying customers who complain about the prices they charge for their pristine organic produce. Van Laanen sighs when she hears some customers balk at paying all of $1.50 for a big bunch of their chard or $2.50 for a basket of their plump strawberries.

``That's the most stressful thing,'' McKenney says. ``I have no problem telling people, `Hey, I made $12,000 last year. How much did you make?' ''

Still, as McKenney and Van Laanen walk down their neatly tended rows of 50 types of crops, with Ruby the cat and Bean the dog cavorting alongside, they're dedicated to making a difference in their own small way.

``We have a whole culture divorced from knowing where their food comes from,'' McKenney says. ``But when you give someone a really good strawberry, or tomato or potato, they completely light up. It's like they had a completely revolutionary taste in their mouth. It reinforces that what we're doing is the right way of doing things.''

They only hope they can continue doing it here. Because no matter how successful Purisima Greens becomes, it's unlikely McKenney or Van Laanen will ever accomplish the one thing that would make their farm really their own.

``We could never ever buy land here,'' says Van Laanen, referring to the prohibitive prices in Northern California.

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For more information on Purisima Greens' Community Supported Agriculture program, call (650) 726-5101.

A somewhat related question: Are people against illegal immigration being disingenous when they buy food that costs are basically subsidized by illegal immigration. For example, most "normal" strawberries sold at stores are only there because of workers that are illegal immigrants. The economincs of strawberry growing basically only allow for illegal immigrants. If you want strawberries that weren't picked by them, you would have to buy specialty strawberries, usually organic etc. Ironically, these foods are usually bought by liberal yuppies who probably aren't against illegal immigration. Should a conservative who is against illegal immigration consider this?

LOL! You seem to have a knack for finding articles that are especially interesting to me, and posing questions I'd managed to overlook.

I would say try to buy organic whenever possible (in the hopes that the brush with capitalism will convince the hearts or pocketbooks of the libs to a more conservative path), but I believe it is even more important to support your LOCAL, specialty producers. Your buying habits can encourage or discourage certain products and practices. At a farmer's market, you can be picky and save money as well as chatting about how nice it is to support small business instead of "corporate America" and its exploitative use of illegal aliens. You've made your point, stroked their egos, and supported NON-illegal labor. Not a bad result for a little money for good food.

Jason McKenney of Half Moon Bay wanted to make a political statement. Not by marching in the streets. Not by boycotting big business. Not by signing a petition.

But by growing fruits and vegetables naturally.

If your goal is to make a political statement then don't complain about only making $12,000 a year. Profit was not your goal!

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