• currently working towards GAPs certification
• do not use any manures or animal products (such as bone meal, feather meal, blood meal) for fertilizing crops
• only well water is used to irrigate crops; we do not pump/irrigate from sloughs or surface water
• harvesting aids, equipment and delivery containers are cleansed daily using food-grade disinfectants
• train workers on a weekly basis on a variety of aspects including equipment safety, first aid, fruit/vegetable harvest & handling (food safety)
  
  

• 90% of our water needs are managed with drip irrigation
  
• utilize raised beds covered with black plastic on almost all vegetable crops to retain moisture from drip irrigation lines
• water during select times of day to minimize loss to evaporation
• farming a diverse mix of orchard crops and Spring crops that do not require irrigation in our current microclimate
  

Energy & GREEN TAGS
Through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation's Green Tags program, we are offsetting our farm operation's carbon footprint by supporting wind energy projects:

• 100% offset of all fuel used for tractors, and delivery vehicles
• 100% offset of all farm electrical use including irrigation well pump, greenhouse, worker housing, post-harvest cooler, and bulding lighting
  
  

• all plastics used in farming operations (such as greenhouse cover, black plastic for raised vegetable rows, seeding trays, etc.) are recyled through Agri-Plas Recycling in Brooks, Oregon
• bi-weekly recycling of all paper, glass, metal and other plastic "waste" which we deliver to Western Oregon Waste in McMinnville, Oregon
  
  

• fair wages for our agricultural workers
  federally-approved OSHA housing provided free to our full-time farm workers
• excess harvested crops are donated to several food bank organizations
• ...we are also a minority owned business
  
  

• select varieties and items that do not require intensive use of resources (i.e. corn)
• do not farm during the winter; not using resources year-round to extend our season
  
  

• at present, approximately 5 acres of our farmland is set aside as a "reserve" that we are not farming, and never will, providing a vital habitat for herons, owls, hawks, deer, coyote, ducks, geese, quail, and other local wildlife