Rod Braga, President/CEO Braga Ranch Director since 2020 | Member since 1977
Organic Pioneer Has Deep Salinas Valley Roots
By Tim Linden
Family History: Sebastian and Josie Braga began farming in the Soledad region of the Salinas Valley in 1928 with fresh vegetables and dairy products forming the core of their business. A cattle operation was added later. Ninety-three years later their legacy lives on in many ways. The original 600-acre ranch, purchased in 1937, is still thriving but the family farms more than 4,000 acres. The dairy business was dropped in the 1950s and the cattle operation survived until the 1980s,
but today Josie’s Organics is the lead brand for the organic commodities and value-added items produced by Braga Fresh Family Farms and Braga Fresh Foods. And the patriarch of the family has lent his name to the company’s year-round custom harvesting service, Sebastian Harvesting. A Family Farm Grows Up : That original “home ranch” remains the core of the Braga family farming operation. In the 1950s, the operation began to grow
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SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021
Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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