Farms in our future? Is eco-tourism an answer to agriculture under siege? Farms in our future? Is eco-tourism an answer to agriculture under siege? (March 03, 2004)

By Marion Sofky

Almanac Staff Writer

The trim young man in the starched white uniform with the silver BMW sports car looks out of place in the working center of the Giusti farm in Half Moon Bay, with its 1950s-vintage John Deere tractors, corrugated sheds, and mud.

Peter Zampaglione is executive sous-chef at the Ritz-Carlton hotel nearby. He's come to buy a couple of crates of fresh-picked artichokes from farmer Ed Riley for a benefit in San Francisco the next day.

Does this minor transaction on a wet Friday morning suggest something about the future of agriculture on the San Mateo County Costside? Does it point to ways that embattled farmers can continue to make a living growing fruits, flowers and vegetables within an hour's drive of Silicon Valley?

"We try to stay in agriculture by changing," says "Farmer John" Muller, pointing to his 25 acres of fava beans, last year's dahlias, and some greenhouses. The cluster of small farms is surrounded by new condos, just a few blocks from downtown Half Moon Bay.

"The traditional ways of marketing our crops are not working any more. The business world has changed," he continues, citing the growth of big box stores, the Internet, and offshore production. "The big are getting bigger, and the little are just hanging on."

Mr. Muller, other members of the Farm Bureau, the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce, and others are looking at a range of ways to reinvigorate agriculture, sell local products, and preserve the coast's historic farming landscape from sprawl and conversion to personal mega-houses and ranchettes.

They are talking two approaches: better marketing of their products; and assistance in preserving and managing land through expansion of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.

"We are looking at the eco-tourism mentality," says Mr. Muller. "Within an hour, we have several million highly educated people who want to get out."

Anyone who has driven to the coast has seen the roadside stands selling pumpkins or nursery stock or veggies -- sometimes accompanied by entertainment. Families can cut Christmas trees or pick olallieberries and kiwis on their way to the beach. And fresh produce finds it way to local restaurants, stores and farmers markets. Mr. Muller, for example, grows 50 kinds of edible pumpkins to sell at his pumpkin farm. "It's a niche market to separate us from other jack-o-lantern places," he says.

But the farmers can't do it alone; they need help. "We need money," Mr. Muller says. "Open Space might give us the opportunity that the next generation could receive fair value for the family property to continue farming."
Coastal backbone

The weathered barns and classic farm houses sprinkled around the still-rural coast recall the agricultural heritage brought by the early Irish, Japanese, Portuguese and Italian immigrants who began raising artichokes and Brussels sprouts in the rich soil.

"Agriculture is still the backbone of the coastal economy," says Jack Olsen, executive manager of the Farm Bureau. Last year, it contributed almost $200 million to the county economy, mostly from the coastal terrace. The county ranks among the top five in California in producing cut flowers, potted plants, mushrooms and artichokes.

Mr. Olsen is concerned about the continued loss of agricultural land in the county. Acreage of harvested crops dropped from 8,512 acres in 1996 to 5,209 in 2001, and is continuing to go down, he says.

While some of the loss can be attributed to shortages of water, and environmental regulations to protect fish and wildlife, Mr. Olsen claims much of the land lost to production belongs to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST). "It's a major, major decrease," he says.

POST owns and protects two-thirds of the agricultural row crops on the coast, says Audrey Rust, president and CEO of POST. She denies that POST has taken land out of farming, but admits that lack of water, and environmental regulations prevent some land from being farmed.

Farmer John Giusti serves as a model for what POST is trying to do with agricultural land, says Ms. Rust. When POST bought the Cowell Ranch, on the coast just south of Half Moon Bay, it turned the beach over to the state park system, and sold 600 acres above the beach to Mr. Giusti, subject to conservation easements that will keep it in agriculture.

Now, people driving down the coast during growing season, can see Mr. Giusti's Brussels sprouts, beans, and veggies growing on both sides of Highway 1. "Our philosophy is that farm land should be owned by farmers," Ms. Rust says.

Farther south, across from Pescadero High School, fourth-generation farmer B.J. Burns, treasurer of the Farm Bureau, is also trying to adjust to the new economy. He grew straw flowers when Pescadero was famous for them. Since foreign competition choked that market, he grows yarrow, flowers, pumpkins, and oat hay for horses on his 150 acres. "I've been doing yarrow for close to 40 years," he says. "Farmers are always looking for something new."

Mr. Burns grumbles about environmental restrictions and a history of problems with land trusts, including POST. "There's a lot of protections on the coast," he says in his farm office lined with a generation of duck-billed caps, and models of farm equipment.

Mr. Burns hopes that Mid-Pen will prove a positive force for agriculture. "At least we'll have something we can hold them to and fall back on. We've never had that before," he says. "I feel good about it. It all comes down to trust."

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