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Hard Work, Generosity and a Hundred Varieties of Fruit

by Karen Van Epen

In 1980, 25-year-old Francisco Resendiz decided he’d had enough. For twelve years he’d worked in the fields and orchards of California’s Central Valley, helping to put his younger brothers and sisters through school. Both his father and grandfather before him had farmed back in Mexico, and Francisco didn’t want to spend his whole life doing the same thing.

So he made himself a deal. He’d give himself one year. If at the end of that year he still didn’t like farming, he’d get out. But if he did like it, he’d work as hard as he could to learn and save as much as possible, so that when the opportunity came, he would have a farm of his own.

Well, that year came and went and nearly twenty more years have passed. Last fall as I walked through Francisco’s orchards, almost every row of trees was in a different stage of losing its leaves. Those fifty-plus varieties of peaches and nectarines spoke volumes about the decision Francisco made so many years ago. It may seem redundant to state this now, but Francisco Resendiz decided he loved to farm.

Challenge of the Land

Thirty years ago when they were children, Francisco, his future wife Gregoria and their families left their home towns of Zitácuaro and Cualcomán on opposite sides of the Mexican state of Mich-oa-----cán. As fate would have it, both families settled in the Central Valley, where the couple met and eventually married. Francisco went to work in the orchards of the Stackhouse brothers, for whom he still manages 300 acres.

Francisco and Gregoria started their own business ten years ago with a little farm stand next to their home. They have built up their operation to 52 acres of fruit and vegetables, with an additional leased 20-acre plot. When the Resendizes decided to go out on their own, they had the support of Francisco’s employer, Rodney Stackhouse.

In 1994 Francisco and Gregoria built a grand, brightly painted barn to house a new farm stand and bakery. Today the Resendiz Family Fruit Barn, located on a busy corner between Modesto and Hughson, is a thriving business that employs as many as 30 people.

Recently the family constructed a park around the barn to attract even more customers. The landscaped pond sparkles with waterfalls and glinting orange fish. Shaded picnic tables overlook the playground’s climbing structures. Next to the greenhouses, in the petting zoo, pygmy goats prance and cavort while emus, pot-bellied pigs and other friendly animals press up to the fence to be scratched.

Selling Directly to Consumers

“The way I see it,” said Francisco, “to be a success takes 40 percent growing, and 60 percent selling. If you don’t know how to market what you grow, no matter how good it is, you’re not going to make it. Direct marketing brings five to seven times more than processors pay, if you know how.”

Almost all the farm’s fruit is sold directly to consumers, with only about five percent going to other retailers. Besides the fruit stand, the Resendiz family goes to a dozen farmers’ markets every week—Turlock, Daly City, Redwood City, Napa, and several markets in the San Jose area. Francisco, his brother and his son each sell at four markets. “Those are long days,” said Francisco, “especially the afternoon markets when you don’t get back until midnight or one in the morning and then you have to get up at four and go off to a morning market.”

With more than 60 varieties of peaches and nectarines, the Resendizes pick peaches at least six days a week from the first week of May into Nov-em--ber. The fruit on their oldest peach trees, which were planted 11 years ago, is not as good as Francisco thinks it should be, so he is about to pull out the trees. “The normal life span of a peach tree is 20 years,” he said, “but we want to be and have the best.”

Remarkably, Francisco & Gregoria keep their employees longer than their fruit trees. “We don’t have to teach our crew anymore because 95 percent of them are the same every year,” said Gregoria. “I’ve had great bosses,” added Francisco, “and the key to working together well is respect on both sides. We put ourselves in the workers’ shoes, so we have to treat them well and pay decent wages.”

Growing Fruit for Flavor, Not Quantity

The Resendiz orchards are standard varieties planted very close together to reduce tree size. Many varieties are planted with only a few rows of each, in order to have fresh-picked fruit every single day. Rather than picking fruit green, it is left to ripen on the trees and develop full flavor. The ripe fruit must be picked daily in order to avoid loss to windfalls.

Francisco keeps the orchard soil nitrogen levels low, with the trees on the weak side. He has found that when you increase the nitrogen you get less flavor, more decay and softer fruit that doesn’t hold up as well.

“We irrigate about every 22 days and use maybe a third less water than other growers around here,” said Francisco. “We’re not going for huge production. We’re after flavor and color. With less water, the color is better because there’s less shade in the orchard. And the fruit has much more flavor.”

Teaching and Giving 100 Percent

“This is some of the best ag land in the world,” observed Francisco, “but the way things are going, there’s not going to be much farming around here in 20 years. People should live on the bad land and leave the prime ground for farming. Folks can’t eat paper, but kids today don’t even know where their food comes from.

“Five years ago we decided to give tours to tell kids about agriculture. Last year 25 classes came to our farm. This year there were 58. We have to entertain them, so we build a big hay bale maze. We show them how to plant broccoli seedlings, which they can come back and harvest. They fish in the pond and pet the animals. We give them a tour of the greenhouses and the bakery and show them how things work.”

The Resendiz family also stages a free, two-day Harvest Fest every October for the local community. “The festival works as a community event, rather than as a business. I wish we could do the same thing for people every month, because today everything you want to do with your kids costs 30, 40, 50 dollars.”

Francisco and Gregoria have three children, Diego, 20, Diana, 16, and Frankie, 10. “We wanted to show our kids that you can do anything in life. You just have to work hard. The way I see life,” said Francisco, “you have to give, and trust that you will get the same amount back. Kids need to learn that.

“It’s not about luck. It’s about work. I never won anything. The reality is work and responsibility. I knew no one would give me anything. Once I decided what I wanted, I realized I had to do 100 percent every day.

“I doubt if our kids will farm,” he added. “But they know how to do all the work. They can prune and drive the tractor. Frankie, our youngest, says he’s going to farm. But then, he wants to be Superman, too.”

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