Everyone’s Harvest Market Days:
Sundays in Marina
Produce:
See Avalos Organic Farm Monthly Availability List
Farmland:
23 acres in Hollister, San Benito County. Efren Avalos, the owner of Avalos Organic Farm lives a 35 minute drive away from Hollister in Salinas, Monterey County.
People:
Avalos Organics Farm is a family operation. Efren Avalos does just about everything; planting, harvesting, and selling at farmers’ markets. In the summer, Efren recruits help from him brother, nephew, sons, and close friend, Carlos. In the winter months, Efren with little field work to do on the farm because of the cold usually takes the opportunity to take his children to Mexico to visit their grandparents, uncles and aunts for a month. In Mexico, his sons enjoy the freedom of their grandparents’ 200 acre property, where they practice riding horses and enjoy the time they have to connect to their extended family. Also, Efren takes the winter months to plan for the next year’s season, working with a local organic nursery in Watsonville to grow his plant starts and buying seeds to directly plant in the ground from Snow Seed in Salinas and farm equipment needed for the season.
Certification:
Avalos Organic Farm is Certified Organic by CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) and is a San Benito County Certified Producer from the County’s Agricultural Commissioner.
Farm History:
Efren Avalos has been farming his whole life, learning at a young age from his parents in Las Cruces in the State on Michoacán in Mexico. Efren came to the United States at the age of 17 because his parents needed finical support. Efren’s father and mother, with 400 acres of fertile land in Mexico, struggled to farm enough to support their family because of the lack of water on their land. The family farms when they can in the rainy season, from May to October, but without water in their well they can’t farm the rest of the year.
Efren immigrated to the United States 23 years ago. He stated, “I was the youngest of eight, all of my brothers and sisters were married. Being the youngest, I felt a responsibility to help my parents. When Efren first arrived from Mexico to California, he got a job picking strawberries for a large farm company in Salinas. He maintained this work for 12 years. In 2000, with a strong desire to work for himself, Efren decided to, along with working an average of 10 hours a day picking strawberries, to also attend ALBA’s (Agricultural Land Base Association), Farmer Education Program (PEPA is the Spanish acronym).
PEPA is a six-month, 150-houradult education course that teaches participants how to establish and operate a small farm business. Efren graduated from PEPA and for his first year leased ½ an acre from ALBA’s Small-Farm Incubator. The land he leased was part of ALBA’s PEPA program, where currently ALBA providing a portion of PEPA graduates with land to lease and access to tractors and equipment at ALBA’s 110-acre Rural Development Center near Salinas.
After two years, Efren moved from farming ½ acre to three acres. Now, in 2011 Efren farms 23 acres running his own successful organic farm business selling at farmers’ markets in the bay area and Monterey County.
Pest Management:
To control pests, Efren rotates his crops, plants alfalfa, marigolds and other flowers to attract beneficial insects, and buys beneficial insects to release on the land he farms.
Soil:
To put nutrients back into the soil, Efren plants cover crops in the winter including fava and garbanzo beans. All the produce that doesn’t sell at the farmers’ markets and plant debria on the farm goes back to the land where Efren rotates it back into the soil.
Weed Control: To control weeds, Efren and his family manual weed the land and plant cover crop in the winter. Cover crop helps to protect the land from weeds, along with adding nutrient back into the soil.
Personal Note:
Efren’s daughter of 21 years old just graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with the Bachelors of Arts in Sociology.
What motivates you to do this work?
Efren loves working out in the fields. A love he learned from his father in Mexico. He enjoys being outside and connecting with nature.
