Jorge Calvillo has recently begun to take initiative on the Brothers Ranch to follow in his dad, Jesus Calvillo, footsteps. He is now 33 years of age and has been working on the farm since he could walk.
“As a kid, I always wanted a childhood with friends and camping, but as a farmer’s son it wasn’t like that,” said Jesus. “We had to work because if we didn’t, it wouldn’t be done. It taught me independence, the value of money, good work ethics, and how to be independent”.
I asked Jorge what he loves about working on the farm. He told me it's the work he does; When he's growing and producing food that people are going to eat, he's not making something people are throwing away, but something they are going to be consuming and enjoying. Food is a part of life, so being that person who grows crops for hundreds of people to eat, creates purpose, as well adds to the meaning of the work itself. Although this job is physically intense and has long hours, Jorge much rather does it than work indoors.
Jorge has nicer scenery than most, better mental health, and farming is by far more significant than a desk job. He loves being outside, watching the plants grow and nurture, and the soil feeding into that as well.
“Farming is not a job, but a lifestyle,” said Jorge. “ My least favorite part is not having a lot of free time to travel”.
All the produce is grown organically, using crop rotation to have better quality fruits and vegetables. Jorge's favorite thing that they grow is the berries. The strawberries in particular are actually the most popular of their produce at the farmer's market. Brothers Ranch takes into consideration what people want to eat, so they rotate the crops to market towards what people want.
Brothers Ranch currently does 7 farmers' markets a week, however, prior to the pandemic they did a lot more.
“Most people don’t want to work on weekends, so it’s hard to find people to hire to do the farmers markets,” said Jorge”. Usually my sister and I are at the farmer's markets selling”.
There's less labor especially in agriculture since people are getting government stipends. Unemployment makes it so people don’t have to work, which is good for them, but bad for the small business farms that depend on the labor to get by.
Although this is a problem for them, the farm is still thriving thanks to Jorge’s recent shift to authority on the farm itself, putting in long and hard hours in order for Brothers Ranch to keep thriving and sell high-quality produce.
