“In our gardens, we have
6,000 trees and plants representing
farmers would dig in and try to solve these issues with conventional methods, his father slowly returned to the ethos that greater symbiosis with nature was a more efficient way to farm. While he had to straddle both approaches in tandem, James first resumed mulching and planting cover crops to retain water, reduce respiration, and regulate soil temperatures, seeing the environment eventually return to a healthier and more biodiverse state toward the end of his life. James lived until 2022, but Tom says 2016 marked a more profound shift in focus at Rancho Santa Clara del Norte, when James collaborated with Dr. Gordon Frankie, a professor at Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, to plant an experimental habitat garden. The garden was designed to draw native pollinators into the avocado groves and help return the land to a more balanced ecosystem. Near one of the cottages where he often stays today, Tom remembers his father “came out on his electric scooter and was just amazed at the amount of insects and bird life” teeming in the pollinator garden. Memories like these incentivized Tom to accelerate the shift in approach he had started a few years earlier while continuing to honor his father’s legacy as a legendary farmer.
over 700 different taxa. There are Japanese maples,
ODAY, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF TOM, his two sons, and his two nephews, Jamie and Weiler Shafer, along with ranch manager Mike Sullivan and foreman Arturo Romo, Rancho Santa Clara del Norte thrives primarily as an avocado farm, growing around three to four different cultivars on 150 acres of fruit along with a variety of citrus. “Adopting a model of care that goes back long before the Colonial period,” Tom says, the rancho boasts four different biomes: orchards, pasture, nearby riparian land adjacent to the Santa Clara River, and gardens — all of which encourage biodiversity. “In our gardens, we have 6,000 trees and plants representing over 700 different taxa. There are Japanese maples, collections of conifers, palms, and cycads. A small grove of Wollemi pine, a hardy plant that’s survived for 200 million years, which we just rediscovered in 1998, tells an interesting story about how hardy nature is, and how little we know about her,” Tom told an audience at a recent soil workshop. At the event, many farmers, new and old, gathered to learn about the future of regenerative practices, which can help farmers save money by reducing chemically based inputs while producing stronger, more nutritious crops. In its current form, the rancho is a living lab where Tom applies lessons he’s gleaned from his visits to farms in England, Scotland, and Holland, along with insights from writers like Gabe Brown, a leader in soil science who founded the regenerative agricultural consulting company Understanding Ag to help farmers improve their soil health. He jokes that
collections of conifers, palms, and cycads. A small grove of Wollemi pine, a hardy plant that’s survived for 200 million years, which we just rediscovered interesting story about how hardy nature is, and how little we know about her.” in 1998, tells an
Rancho Santa Clara del Norte thrives primarily as an avocado farm, growing around three to four different cultivars. Right: Just some of the 126 species of newly grown, regionally appropriate, drought-tolerant plants that attract pollinators with their flowers.
his father played his cards close when Tom was away pursuing a career in finance, but his recent return has modernized the family’s commitment to the future of the rancho, focusing on what he calls “the three layers: sky, earth, and dirt.”
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ISSUE 01
A SENTIMENTAL BOUNTY
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