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Feb.20,2012It’s 6:45am. The sun has just crested the East hills of San Diego County and John and I are up organizing a few items for an overnight trip to Mexico. After meeting Stephen through Facebook, we learned of a few solid and growing farming ventures he has his hand in: one outside of the Salton Sea, another just over the Mexican border, and a third in a greenhouse construction operation. In crossing the United States and visiting dozens of farms, this is our first opportunity to see large scale ag. production.
Headed to the desert.
We know Stephen has followed our journey across the United States visiting sustainable farms. We have his phone number and he has our address. He will arrive to meet us and take us over the border to Mexico in an hour and a half.
In the truck later that day, on the road to Mexicali.
John receives the phone call saying our host is downstairs and we take a breath and head out. Stephen is the size of a lumberjack and shakes our hands smiling and apologizing about the traffic. His German Shepherd, Max, is going berserk, barking in the back of his pickup. Stephen lets him out for a “potty break” as we climb into the truck. John’s elbow hits something as he rests it on the console, and we look down to find a small machete. We both look at each other and say, “What are we doing?”
Meet Max...
By 8:30, we smile as we listen to Stephen talk about his family and watch his face light up as he describes taking them to see the farm grounds he manages. We manage to get past the barking German shepherd in the back of his truck and the pint sized machete stuffed between the passenger seat and console. What began as an anxiety riddled car ride with a stranger, who happened to need a German shepherd for personal protection and wield a machete, has become a road trip with a hilarious friend who charms us with his dedication and openness to his profession. For the next 36 hours, we shadow Stephen as he does his job and does it well.
Turns out Max is very well trained, and a good guy to have around.
Our first stop was an 1800 acre farm near Brawley, California. Stephen is the contact for Sun Terra Produce Traders and acts as the general manager. The farm employs hundreds of people, working together to meet strict guidelines for safety and health practices set forth by the USDA. The safety manager, Greg, tells us that many of the problems bigger ag. production faces today occur not in production but how the produce is handled after it has left the farm. Regardless, Greg and his team go through meticulous detail to ensure the growing and harvesting processes are as sanitary as humanly possible. Stephen receives order for certain numbers of crops through Sun Terra and works with owners of the land to research the crop, prepare for the growing season, and raise the crop. The farm rotates the crops grown on the land so as to preserve the nutrients in the soil and maintain year-round production.
Kate walks carefully through the rows so she will not damage any of the plants. Hairnets are a must for food safety laws.
Skilled farm workers move with an efficiency that I have rarely seen. This is not "unskilled labor", they are fast and efficient.
When enough of the crop has been harvested, huge trucks cart the produce to a Sun Terra office location just a few miles away where the produce is chilled and packaged in a huge warehouse. There it sits until the delivery truck arrives shortly thereafter and brings it to locations all over the country. We visit the location on a slower day and are told that, when the harvest season is at its height, trucks are lined up for miles waiting to receive their cargo. Forklifts speed and twirl past each other with swift movements controlled by their drivers who look as though they could manage the machines blindfolded. But not today.
Someone way smarter than me invented a way to flash-cool hundreds of pounds of produce with speed and little waste. The door shut on this guy and in less than an hours lettuce is chilled and ready for shipping.
These operators could fly on forklifts the size of large trucks. I give them credit for never spilling any produce.
People safety and food safety, always in practice.
As we approach the border, Stephen regales us with stories of growing up in Brawley and his adventures over the Mexican/US border. Getting in is easy, he says. It’s getting back out that can be tricky. Like myself, there’s not much his parents let him get away with and the PG-13 jaunts in Tijuana and Mexicali usually ended up with him grounded or in trouble. That said, Mom, Dad, sorry I forgot to tell you we were going to Mexico. We had a great time!
Stephen, having made this trip many times, was familiar with a lovely hotel in a safe neighborhood frequented by American business people that would do just fine for the evening. Before visiting the greenhouse construction project Stephen had initiated, we checked into the hotel, threw our bags down, and got a bite to eat.
We shared the road with some interesting characters. This guy had NO control over where the donkey wanted to go. Stubborn as a mule!
Interestingly enough, Mexicali is known for its great Chinese food. Early in the 20th century, many Chinese immigrated to the US and found work at the Colorado River Land Company, building railroads and irrigation systems. To date, decedents of that migration reside in Mexicali and know how to make some mean Chinese food!
The next day, we visited Rancho Del Desierto, a 2,000 acre plot of land being cultivated for crop production under Stephen’s management. This land sees everything from onions to table grapes. While Stephen met with contractors for a new project on the property, we toured the land with Jose, Stephen’s right hand man. His English was about as good as John’s Spanish and we spent around an hour talking about the land, the jobs, our families and the cultural differences between our homelands. The man was a walking agricultural encyclopedia and fascinated us with his knowledge of the property.
Natural wind breaks are planted to protect the onions from the strong winds.
A "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" view of green onions.
Skilled laborers bunch onions.
Off-season grape vines. Stephen's farm produces wine grapes and table grapes.
A splash of color in the desert.
The closer to the border we neared on the West Coast, the more people seemed to have strong opinions about the safety of travel in Mexico. John and I learned that drug cartels have made many areas in Mexico treacherous and considered whether or not we were making a smart decision by going down there. For as nervous as we were traveling to Mexico with a “stranger” we met on the internet, John and I realized that, by opening up his life and career to two traveling strangers, Stephen had taken a risk as well. And, in all that we have learned, we know that without great risk, there will be no great reward.
Letting Max go "potty".
Thanks Stephen!
Text by Kate, Photos by John & Stephen
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by the same author. This book was the result of over a decade of trips around the world visiting various farmers and photographing them doing what they do best.
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