Lagier Ranches Tour
On September 28, 2014, CUESA visited Lagier Ranches as part of our “Orchards and Organics Farm Tour.”
Lagier Ranches is a 120-acre certified organic farm in Escalon, California, specializing in almonds, grapes, and other orchard crops. John Lagier is a fourth-generation farmer whose great-grandfather came to California in the 1870s to raise cattle and grains.
John started farming in 1979 and transitioned to organic practices in the 1990s. They are currently certified by CCOF. The farm's website states that Lagier Ranches' mission is to be "a steward of the earth. This value is reflected in environmentally conscious use of water, energy, and other resources with our organic farming practices."
John met his partner, Casey Havre, at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. She now helps run the farm, in addition to producing handmade fruit preserves under the label Loulou’s Garden.
John and Casey are in the process of planting 40 new acres of almond trees. Though almonds are a water-intensive crop, John says that they are a consistent moneymaker, they store well, and they require little labor, since the harvest is mechanized. The trees are watered by drip irrigation.
The farm is irrigated by a deep well in addition to surface water from the Stanislaus River watershed, which is fed by the Sierra Nevada snowpack. The snowpack water is very pure with little salt and a neutral pH, making it ideal for farming.
Farm hack! John repurposed this broken tractor, which still has a working motor, to work as an auxillary water pump.
The soil at Lagier Ranches is Dinuba fine sandy loam. Trees in middle of this orchard are smaller because the soil is sandier there.
John planted a new self-fertile almond variety called Independence, a hybrid (not GMO) developed by the local tree breeder Zaiger Genetics. Most almond varieties are self-incompatible, meaning they can only be pollinated by a differnt variety of almond. The promise of the Independence almond is that it will require fewer bees for pollination, a major expense for almond growers.
Lagier recently received a grant to install a native plant hedgerow in this spot alongside their almond orchards. The hedgerow will include plants that attract native pollinators, which play an important role in pollination for most almond trees, as honeybee populations are in decline.
Lagier is the only farm in California to grow Bronx grapes, which have been cataloged in the Slow Food Ark of Taste as a rare and nearly extinct variety worth preserving. A cross between a Concord and Thompson, the grape has a sweet, floral flavor, juicy flesh, and a delicate skin that ranges from light green to pink.
This winter, John and Casey will be planting more grape vines in this space. The large balloons seen in the distance are to deter birds from eating the grapes. The biggest insect pest concern in the vineyard is leafhoppers. Instead of spraying pesticides, John and Casey release lacewings, which are leafhopper predators.
This structure used to house Toulouse geese, which John and Casey would let loose in the orchards as a form of organic weed control. While the geese helped keep the Johnson grass at bay, they were a lot of work to care for.
Lagier Ranches also grows Page and Satsuma mandarins, Meyer lemons, quinces, French and Italian plums, and boysenberries. Last winter, the farm was hit by a hard freeze that wiped out most of their mandarins for the season.
Using the fruits from Lagier Ranches and neighboring farms, Casey makes her own line of preserves in the farm’s certified organic kitchen, and sells them under the name Loulou’s Garden. In addition to jams, jellies, and marmalades, she also makes fruit fillings for Saint Benoît Creamery yogurt.
When the farm used to grow more berries, John used this oven for a pie business. Now he uses it to roast almonds.
Farm dog Bing, named after the cherry, is a Pyrenees-Akbash mix. Bing got lots of love from our tour participants!
