Thirty-one square miles is quite a chunk of space. If you were to bike around it in Northern Illinois, starting in downtown Chicago, you would travel west to Naperville about thirty-one miles and then turn north just up to Algonquin, roughly thirty-two miles. Then you’re halfway around. Now pedal east to Lake Michigan, turn south in Highland Park back to Chicago, and get there, some 125 miles the better. You would have just burned enough calories to loop around the cornerstone of organics, the entire 20,000 acres of Cal-Organics.

Headquartered at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley in Lamont, CA, Cal-Organics (Cal-O) is the forefather of the organic agriculture boom. It is a family-owned farm, with one producer and 1500 employees all rooted in the middle of flatlands with the look and feel of a desert.

The family started their organic venture growing lemongrass for teas in 1984. Before this, they struggled like many other family farmers in the 80’s, farming cotton and grain, fighting the blight of mono-cropping in arid, degradated soil. The family extended their organic growing methods when demand heightened from San Francisco. With a quarter acre of land, they tried what no one else had in the Bakersfield area, to harvest produce from the valley’s desert—without chemicals. With nothing to lose, they tested the salubrious, ecological system of organic farming.

It worked. Over the span of some fifteen years, 6,000 acres came to be bought and organically tended, growing over 60 items of produce, from daikon to dill, red cabbage, rainbow chard, gold beets, and parsley. Cal-O took on more varieties than just butter lettuce by proliferating their healthy soil around southern California. They needed different elevations and conditions to harvest diverse produce without using conventional chemicals—for example, moving operations south to Imperial Valley for the winter and Tehachapi for the summer. This was how they offered product year-round and this is how they began to streamline the look and presence of organic produce in more retail markets.

As the years progressed, Cal-Organics came to be known for consistently showing how organics could look and taste better than conventional. By keeping their product on the shelves, more dialogue could be raised around organics, and this paved a way and interest for other farmers. With support from Grimmway Farms starting in 2001, their operations blossomed. They have been able to experiment with new techniques over three times the amount of land and this keeps them at the helm of innovative technologies.

When asked about the flourish of the Cal-O name today, Todd Linsky, Director of Sales, says, “We were in the right place at the right time. We started small just like other one-acre farmers today and as we grew, we invested back into our soil conservation and farming methods.” Their long history is why they take on the role of older brother in the organic industry: “We think buying local is great. We completely support the small, local farmer. During the summers we grow less produce because we know that is when local growing seasons start,” says Linsky. Despite their arm’s long reach across the U.S., Cal-O cannot emphasize enough the importance of local markets: “Buying local is the right thing to buy. Small, local farms are the backbone of this industry and it is how the industry perpetuates itself and moves to new levels of growth. We just happen to be blessed to be in California where local is possible year-round.” 

The growth of organics was legitimized in 2002 with the sanction of the USDA. With rules laid down by the government, greater public attention rose around the viability of the market. “Regulation creates accountability and that is always positive,” says Linsky. “While there is a lot of growing to do, these rules speak volumes on the category itself. It says organics are here to stay and are an important American dollar.”

The USDA Organic market today, for Linsky, is divided into two groups. He says, “When it comes to retailers, there are the Have-To’s and the Want-To’s. What is really making this category move is the growth of retailers who want to be part of organics.” To help the market grow, Linksy suggests retailers become more educated about organics, its benefits, and to get customers to taste it and talk about it. Ultimately, he says, “Decide if you are a Have-To or Want-To. If you want to be a part of this, it will automatically generate excitement around organics.”

On the benefits of organics—why we should be Want-To’s—Linsky says, “There are so many reasons. In one sentence? To buy organics is to make conscientious choices about our bodies and lifestyle, our environment and planet. Plus,” he adds, stifling a laugh, “We need to make sure Bob [President of Goodness Greeness] has a job. His parents asked me to look after him. Could you imagine him and his brothers out on the street?! Crime in the Midwest would be way up…It’s really a public safety service to buy organics.”

In all seriousness, Linsky goes on to state, “The organic consumer is the greatest consumer to serve. They are not just buying a commodity, they are choosing a lifestyle. Consumers today are smarter than they were ten years ago. They want to know what is going on with their food and how their food will affect the world around them.”

This awareness is what makes the success of Cal-Organics so sweet. They have fostered and built upon a growing producer and consumer consciousness. Plumed with a bit of earth large enough to proclaim their talent loud enough around the nation, it is with humility and gratitude to the small farmer they once were and the consumer to whom they give their bounty that their achievement endears itself. Congratulations to the triumph of a new way of farming, shopping, and feasting, to Cal-O, the foundation of Want-To’s.