We proudly source more than 40 percent of the produce for our Farm-to-School Program from local California farms! Many of our farm partners are from multi-generation farming families, and several are women, BIPOC, or from other marginalized communities.
The FruitGuys has been building long-term relationships with California farms since 1998.
Below, you’ll find the stories of just a few of our many farm partners. We’re proud to call these folks our friends, and to work with them to bring your students the freshest, healthiest, most beautiful fruits and veggies around.
Appleseed Farms
Sebastopol, California
John Kolling farms more than 100 acres of organic apples at Appleseed Farms in Sebastopol, California. He specializes in growing Gravenstein apples—an endangered heritage variety listed in the Ark of Taste. The FruitGuys celebrates Gravensteins each year in our Gravenstein Apple Box!
Apricot Lane Farms
Moorpark, California
Apricot Lane Farms is a 234-acre organic- and biodynamic-certified farm in Moorpark, California. Farmers John and Molly Chester brought their farm’s soil back to life, and now they grow more than 200 varieties of fruits and vegetables! You can learn more about their farm in the documentary The Biggest Little Farm.
Bee Sweet Citrus
Fowler, California
Founded by fruit sellers Jim Marderosian and Alan Derderian, the folks at Bee Sweet Citrus have been busy as bees packing and shipping California citrus since 1987. Bee Sweet supplies sweet-tart delights like oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and mandarins year-round.
Bernard Ranch
Riverside, California
Husband-wife duo Vince and Vicki Bernard are true family farmers, and they planted their first citrus trees at Bernard Ranch in 1984. Their orchards produce mouthwatering Frost Valencia oranges, Kishu mandarins, Star Ruby grapefruits, and more! The Bernards use easy-on-the-land organic farming practices without organic certification.
Better Produce
Santa Maria, California
Better Produce is an organic-certified, family-owned fruit and vegetable grower, shipper, and distributor. Juan Cisneros and his family partner with independent growers to farm conventional and organic produce like berries, peppers, and squash in Santa Maria, California.
Bonita Farms
Multiple sites in San Bernardino County, California
Farmer Leo Diaz grew up in Mexico and now grows sweet fruit and delicious vegetables in San Bernardino County alongside his brother and cousins. They supply The FruitGuys with beautiful strawberries, bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and more.
Booth Ranches
Orange Cove, California
Otis Booth, Jr. started Booth Ranches all the way back in 1957. The family-owned farm has been chugging along ever since, turning out top-notch citrus like Navel oranges, Valencia oranges, Cara Cara oranges, Minneola tangelos, and W. Murcott mandarins.
Brandt Farms
Reedley, California
When peach farmer Jack Brandt Sr.’s fellow farmers asked for his help getting fruit to market, he expanded Brandt Farms to include packing and shipping. Now the Brandts grow peaches, plums, nectarines, grapes, and persimmons in California’s San Joaquin Valley, and pack other fruit, too!
Cuyama Orchards
Arvin, California
Cuyama Orchards is a family-owned organic apple farm in California’s Cuyama Valley. The Albano family started farming apples in 1992, specializing in hard-to-find heirloom varieties like the Arkansas Black and Ashmead’s Kernel.
Devoto Gardens & Orchards
Sebastopol, California
Stan started farming apples in 1975. Since then, he has planted over ninety varieties, plus flowers and wine grapes! We’ve added his Sebastopol Gravenstein apples (an endangered heirloom variety) to our annual Gravenstein Apple Box since 2006 to help Stan save it from extinction. Stan and his team pick their organic apples by hand for the best quality and flavor.
Double Date
Coachella, California
Date farmer Steven Gilfenbain founded Double Date so that he could pack and ship his farm’s Medjool dates to customers in a more efficient and eco-friendly way. Today, Double Date grows conventional and organic dates and packs them at its facility in Coachella, California.
Earthseed Farm
Sebastopol, California
Earthseed is an organic, women-owned, and BIPOC-owned farm. Its team uses eco-friendly permaculture methods and Afro-Indigenous practices to grow Asian pears, persimmons, apples, blackberries, raspberries, and more.
Family Tree Farms
Reedley, California
Family Tree is a multi-generational family farm run by the Jackson family in Reedley, California. The Jacksons grow delicious and unique varieties of fruit, like blueberries, plumcots, donut nectarines, and peaches. They also donate produce to feed those in need!
Ferrari Farms
Linden, California
Ferrari Farms is a third-generation family farm in Linden, California. The Ferrari family takes pride in growing flavorful organic cherries, apples, and walnuts without synthetic herbicides or pesticides. To protect the environment, they power their packing facility almost entirely with solar energy.
Friend’s Ranches
Ojai, California
At Friend’s Ranches, fourth-generation farmer Emily Ayala’s family grows Ojai Pixie tangerines so delicious they’ve been served at the White House three times! Emily has provided Ojai Pixies to The FruitGuys for more than two decades through Ojai Pixie Packers.
Fruit World
Reedley, California
Fruit World is a woman- and LGBTQ+-owned company that markets and sells fruit grown by more than a half-dozen family farms in California’s Central Valley. One of them belongs to CEO Bianca Kaprielian’s family! We love sharing Fruit World’s organic and conventional citrus, grapes, stone fruit, pomegranates, persimmons, and more.
Gowan Orchards
Philo, California
The Gowan family has grown heirloom apples in Mendocino County for six generations—since 1876! They use organic and sustainable practices to raise their fruit, and as of 2022 had eighty-four apple varieties in their orchard, including several rare ones.
Grapery
Shafter, California
Jack Pandol, a third-generation California grape grower, founded Grapery in 1996. His vineyards in Kern and Tulare counties grow delicious table grapes, including unique varieties like Gum Drops ®, Moon Drops ®, and Cotton Candy ®.
Homegrown Organic Farms
Porterville, California
Homegrown Organic Farms is a cooperative company representing over 100 organic farmers. Its farms span more than 7,000 acres in California’s San Joaquin Valley and grow organic blueberries, citrus, stone fruit, pomegranates, persimmons, grapes, and more.
JSM Organics
Royal Oaks, California
At JSM Organics, farmer Javier Zamora grows organic berries, vegetables, and flowers on a 200-acre, certified organic farm. Javier grew up in Mexico and has a deep appreciation for the land. He uses eco-friendly practices like planting cover crops to prevent erosion, feed the soil through nitrogen fixation, and increase biodiversity.
King Fresh Produce
Dinuba, California
King Fresh’s story goes all the way back to 1933—the year that young farmer Dee Wilson left Oklahoma behind to become a California farmer. Today, King Fresh Produce grows grapes, cherries, pomegranates, and citrus fruits on more than 4,000 acres in California’s San Joaquin Valley and beyond.
Kings River Packing
Sanger, California
Kings River Packing dates back to 1853 when farmers William and Mary Hazelton settled in California’s Central Valley. Eight generations on, the family is still growing, packing, and shipping organic and conventional citrus, including fun varieties like Raspberry Oranges ® and Minneola tangelos.
Kingsburg Orchards
Kingsburg, California
Kingsburg Orchards is owned and operated by a fifth-generation farming family. They partner with other farmers to grow, pack, and ship more than 200 varieties of apples and stone fruits (including white nectarines, apple pears, and apriums—a plum/apricot hybrid) in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Lagier Ranches
Ripon, California
Lagier Ranches is a small family farm that grows, packs, and ships fresh organic fruit. Husband-and-wife farmers John and Casey Havre grow delicious citrus, cherries, and grapes. Casey has been farming since she was just 16 years old! The Havres also use their fruit to craft products like lemon juice and raisins.
Ojai Pixie Packers
Ojai, California
Ojai Pixie Packers is a family-owned cooperative representing about forty farms in California’s Ojai Valley, including Friend’s Ranches and Churchill Orchard. Its members grow, pack, and ship Ojai Pixie tangerines. These special fruits have an extra-sweet flavor and acidic top note thanks to the Ojai Valley’s unique microclimate. Every winter, we count down the days until their harvest!
Olson Family Farms
Kingsburg, California
The Olson family has farmed in Kingsburg, California, for an impressively long time—since 1889! The Olsons have used organic practices since day one (since before we even used the word organic!) and today their farm grows at least seventy-five varieties of certified organic stone fruit, including peaches, plums, apricots, and nectarines.
Primavera
Linden, California
Italian immigrant Alex Sambado founded Primavera in the 1920s, and his family still runs the farm’s growing, packing, and shipping business today. They grow tasty cherries, apples, and walnuts, and pack produce from nearby farms, too.
Rocking Chair Farm Markets
Kingsburg, California
Blake and Lisa Carlson have grown stone fruit on their family farm in Kingsburg since 1984, and many of their workers have been with them since the beginning. They’ve supplied The FruitGuys with juicy nectarines, peaches, and plums since 2007.
Scully Packing
Finley, California
Scully Packing Company is a family business that’s one part pear farm, one part packing facility. The Scully family grows their own pears and packs fruit for almost two dozen pear growers across California. Their growers use eco-friendly practices like integrated pest management and solar power.
Shanley Farms
Morro Bay and Visalia, California
Jim Shanley started farming in 1998 with a plot of avocados in Morro Bay, California. Today, he runs Shanley Farms with his daughter, Megan Shanley Warren! They grow unique and delicious finger limes, avocados, goji berries, passion fruit, and more on two sites—one in Morro Bay and one in Visalia.
Stehly Farms Organics
Valley Center, California
Stehley Farms Organics is a 278-acre organic farm that has been in the Stehley family since 1964. Brothers Jerome and Noel Stehly run the orchards today, and they supply The FruitGuys with delicious organic citrus including pucker-you-up lemons and sweet Valencia oranges.
Sweet Valley Produce
Merced, California
Sweet Valley Produce is a woman- and BIPOC-owned farm that also sells produce for other small family farms. Founder Angelica Estrada and her team grow a rainbow of sweet potatoes and source local apples, strawberries, and more from their friends.
The Flavor Tree Fruit Company
Hanford, California
Flavor Tree connects The FruitGuys with more than forty organic and conventional farms in California’s central and southern San Joaquin Valley. Its farms grow mouth-watering fruits like golden kiwis, more than a dozen varieties of cherries, and fabulous Verry Cherry plums (a plum-cherry cross created right here in California).