As we fight to “Keep it in the Ground” and end the production of fossil fuels and plastics that cause the climate crisis, we also know that climate change will impact farmers and our future food supplies. What are small farmers thinking about this present and future?
We asked Bernie of Pomo Tierra Ranch who has been selling at Berkeley Farmers’ Market for decades. A spur of the moment decision while hitchhiking in 1971 in Mendocino County led to a lifetime of experimentation in ecological farming that goes against all the rules of conventional agriculture. Bernie is serious about water conservation — only watering for the first 6 years of a new tree’s life. And he does not till after a tree dies, which would release a lot of stored carbon into the atmosphere. Instead, he grafts new trees onto the existing root stock. He doesn’t kill off trees prematurely, but let’s them live for their full true life span of over 100 years.
When we asked Bernie what he thought needed to be done to deal with climate change, he shared that he believes we need to shift the framework from one of individualized responsibility to one of global responsibility.
I do think it’s existential. I mean, you know, it can’t be solved at the individual level. You can, like, push [to] not buy plastic shampoo bottles, but it’s not gonna matter. It’s something that’s gotta be dealt with on a global level by leaders in all the major countries who are creating the pollution.
Over the course of the 50 years of operating Pomo Tierra Ranch, the collective ownership model has remained consistent even as the day to day duties have narrowed. Now, his family and a few other families live on the property in the orchard and make collective decisions about the farm. In terms of farm labor, Bernie hires a few people for the pruning season and hosts ‘harvest parties’ where up to 70 friends and family pitch in. A member of the collective makes the apple butter, and Bernie carries out the responsibility of orchard management and bringing his product to the farmers’ market. Read more for our interview with Bernie! Click here for a directory of organizations that are organizing to fight climate change.
Excerpts from an Interview with Bernie of Pomo Tierra Ranch:
Ecology Center: How’d you end up doing this orchard business?
Bernie: Pure luck. I was hitchhiking and somebody picked me up and brought me up with them. He said, “Hey you know, come visit sometime.” I said “Okay how about now?” I mean it’s 1971.
Ecology Center: Had you ever worked in agriculture before that?
Bernie: No. Anyway he brought me up to the farm and I’ve been there ever since. I was not one of the original owners. There were ten people and they were living in the Bay Area mostly in San Jose and they wanted to get they wanted to stay together like some had been in the like in the Peace Corps, the Office of Economic Opportunities they were kind of sharing a house in San Jose and that they’re sort of their terms of their contracts were coming to an end. You know whatever they’re doing but they didn’t want to go back to their different places you know like New York and Chicago and Detroit. So they said “Hey why don’t we find a place and you know find a piece of property or a house in the suburb?” But anyway they traveled up to Mendocino County and they found this 50-80 acre farm and they said “Hey, this looks pretty good. We’ll be apple farmers.” So that’s how they ended up, and then like a month later after they moved up, I was hitchhiking.
Ecology Center: Did that group know how to farm when they started this project?
Bernie: Nothing. So, you know, we struggled a lot in the beginning. People had to go and find jobs. Some people had to find jobs. But, you know, we kept farming. And then over time, you know, most everybody except me kind of lost interest in being apple farmers. They found, you know, other kinds of things they prefer to do. And so I kept the orchard going, and people would help at key times during the harvest.
Ecology Center: How is the market for selling apples?
Bernie: I mean, I have a limited number of varieties and a limited number of apples. Like, I’ll run out in probably a month or so. Some years we have more, others less. This year, they didn’t produce as much as last year. It’s goes up and down. I don’t really have trouble getting rid of all our apples. I sell it here and at the other farmer Berkeley Farmers Market. And then I sell, like, a Sal’s restaurant buys a few boxes a week.
Ecology Center: How do you water your orchard?
Bernie: We economize on water a lot. I mean, we have really limited amount of water anyway. We have a spring. Then in the winter there’s unlimited water in the winter when we don’t need it. We have quite a few tanks. Okay. But, you can’t capture enough to get you through the summer. So, you know, we limit the size of our gardens. We’re up in the hill. So when we plant new trees, we water them, you know, 5 years, 6 years, something like that, but then, hopefully, they get big enough to where we can cut them loose…Like, some of the trees now are well over a 100 years old. Because the original trees were planted in 1900.
So we barely [water.] We have, you know, some of these guys down in the valley, they have wells and they turn on the pump and, you know, they’re putting like, I don’t know, a 100 gallons a minute. And, you know, they’ll keep doing it until there’s no more groundwater. Our well puts out like a gallon a minute at best. Anyway, and you can’t pump it all day. So, you know, we’re just totally into the water conservation.
Ecology Center: What have you noticed about climate change?
Bernie: Well, more extreme weather, extreme droughts, even extreme rain events, but we don’t mind the rain events. So what what’s more troubling is the droughts. Although I must say, I mean, going back even into the seventies, we had 7 years of drought one time in the seventies, and I think again in the eighties. So, you know, it’s not like drought is something new, but, yeah, it’s just more extreme now and more unpredictable…I do think it’s existential. I mean, you know, it can’t be solved at the individual level. You can, like, push [to] not buy plastic shampoo bottles, but it’s not gonna matter. It’s something that’s gotta be dealt with on a global level by leaders in all the major countries who are creating the pollution. The incentive is not gonna come from the United States in the next 4 years.
Ecology Center: What’s the point of community and society in your mind?
Bernie: To, live in peace, to respect each other, not to, not to, be greedy. To make apples, obviously. You know, live simply and not to use any more resources than you need to.
