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Lagier Ranchces back to list
Master Marketer Makes It Look Easy

by Karen Van Epen and Molly Espley

John Lagier’s earliest memories are of working in the vineyard planted by his father, the same vines that John farms today in Escalon. The family’s local roots go deep. Lagier’s grandfather came to San Joaquin County from France around 1910. He grew almonds on land that has since been developed into suburbs and shopping centers. When Lagier’s father came back from World War II, he decided to grow grapes, field and row crops, in addition to almonds.

On his mother’s side of the family, Lagier’s great-grandfather came to California from Missouri and settled in Escalon in the 1870s. He dry farmed wheat and barley, and raised mules for the big teams that were the backbone of that era’s farms. Lagier’s grandfather, P.G. Poynor, was born just a mile from the Escalon vineyard, in a century-old house now occupied by his cousin Mary and her family. Aunts, uncles and cousins live all up and down the road, most of them still farming.

When he took over the farm, John made the decision to diversify. In addition to the grapes and almonds grown by his father, Lagier now grows berries, cherries and citrus. He was looking for crops that were in short supply and things that he himself really enjoyed. “Boysenberries are one of my all-time favorite things to eat,” he said. “You’ve got to have a passion for what you grow.”

He prefers to sell the fruit fresh, but if the cherries are too small or unsuitable for packing, the farm can pit and dry them. Recently they bought a cherry pitter, made by Dunkley in Michigan, a major cherry-growing state.

“We want to keep the quality of our packed fruit way up. A couple of years ago, we were throwing out lots of fruit. We needed to expand anyway, to move our packing shed from the almond huller at my mother’s place. So we built a packing shed with a commercial kitchen, and bought other equipment, like a dehydrator.” Now the fruit that doesn’t meet the high standards of the packing shed — too ripe or stemless — can be dried or made into jam.

Expansion and diversification are part of a larger strategy to grow great fruit and market it creatively. Lagier Ranches goes year-round to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market. During the picking season, they take their fresh fruit to other farmers’ markets as well. John’s son Jack, 18, has been helping with the Ferry Plaza trips, but this fall he is going off to college at Cal Poly. Daughter Cecilia, 16, helps out occasionally, too.

John Lagier’s marketing talents are the perfect complement to his farming skills. He works with brokers at the produce terminals and with distributors such as Veritable Vegetables, Whole Foods, and a new cooperative, Big Tree Organic Farms.

Lagier markets as much of his produce locally as possible, through fruit stands and health food stores. Supermarkets, however, are not an option because they are generally supplied from centralized warehouses. “Logistically, it’s hard in the Central Valley,” said Lagier, “because there’s no infrastructure for marketing local produce.” The only alternative is to haul the fruit to where the necessary infrastructure does exist, “so I take the produce to the coast and then the distributors bring it back,” he said. “Now there’s such a demand for this fruit in the cities that not much of it makes it back to the valley. People here want it, though. The market’s coming and we have to grow into it.”

Adapting a New System to Fit

In 1991 Lagier Ranches began the transition to organic practices, beginning with the 36-acre block of almonds. When CAFF’s BIOS (Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems) program expanded to San Joaquin County in 1995, Lagier enrolled his almonds in BIOS.

Like many of the enrolled growers, Lagier adapted the system to meet the needs of his individual orchard and his long-term goals for the farm. BIOS is a voluntary program that provides growers with flexible tools to develop a “whole systems approach” to orchard management that relies less on agricultural chemicals, without requiring conversion to organic practices.

Lagier already had planted a cover crop and eliminated the use of dormant sprays. However, he was looking for additional resources and guidance through the transition to organic farming practices. He welcomed and implemented suggestions from the network of experienced agricultural professionals involved with BIOS.

Currently 45 acres are certified organic, and as of August, the whole farm will be managed organically. Cover crops are planted on the entire acreage. In the last two years, they have been planting habitat for beneficial insects around and between the fields. They apply compost from New Era in the fall and spring, and use compost teas from the same company.

Lagier now serves on the BIOS management team, providing guidance and suggestions to BIOS staff and the other enrolled growers. He continues to experiment with practices that will increase the quality of his crops and enhance their profitability.

Evolution of a Value-added Product

Last winter’s freeze devastated Lagier Ranches’ citrus plantings. Going into the season, they had 14 acres of mandarin oranges. The cold weather killed nine acres of the trees. That land is now planted to sweet corn.

When the freeze hit, Lagier recalled, “We ran out and picked everything right away. Then we opened the fruit, separated the sections and dehydrated them immediately.” They add the flavorful dried citrus to their unique trail mix, which also contains dried cherries and almonds from the farm.

This year’s bumper crop of cherries left Lagier with more fruit than he could process and sell directly. So he found an organic yogurt producer to buy the remaining portion of his crop, which he otherwise might have had to discard. John Lagier’s remedies for abundance are as creative as his remedies for scarcity.

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