Welcome to my families farm and web site. My name is Ryan and I am the third generation to farm on this property. We are located in the San Juaqine Valley about 10 miles north of Visalia. We have a variety of produce growing on our 25 acres which you can read about and purchase at our online store.
Fife Farms was started by my grandparents in 1943 when they purchased 20 acres. My grandfather raised peaches and nectarines that were picked in metal buckets and packed in wooden boxes in the field. They were then loaded on an old Studebaker truck and driven to Los Angeles or San Francisco to be sold . After a few years of farming and working for others picking crops and doing tractor work my grandfather had made enough to lease other properties to expand his dream.
In 1964 my father and mother purchased there own piece of land. 25 acres and a house where they raised my older sister and I. My parents and my grandparents farmed commercially together until 1984. That is when my parents took on the full responsibility of what the family had built. Approximately 200 acres and a large packing facility where they packed and shipped not only their own but neighbors produce also.
I was born in 1970 and I like my father watched and worked with my two mentors and learned the hardships and rewards of being a farmer. By 1986 commercial farming was coming to an end for small farms so my parents were looking for other outlets to sell their produce. That’s when they found Certified Farmers Markets. It was a great way to sell fruit that was to ripe to be shipped to stores.
My mother and I started the summer of 1985 driving fresh picked tree ripe Modesto apricots to the San Luis Obispo farmers market on Thursdays. We would take a pickup bed load of boxes and I would sit in the back bagging up bags of about 12 and my mother would sell them for $1.00. No scales no cash box just a homemade table my grandfather made and plastic bags. That was the start of the rescue of our farm. How far we have come over the last 22 years. Now we have high tech scales, biodegradable bags, quality fruit and a whole new family. Our faithful customers.
I WANT TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS PURCHASED FROM US AT THE FARMERS MARKETS, AT OUR FARM OR ONLINE. YOU HAVE HELPED 1 SMALL FARM STAY ALIVE AND WE APPRECIATE IT.
The Fife’s