“We will soon be completing a major renovation of our Los Angeles distribution and repacking warehouse to provide better customer service, cold chain management and space utilization,” said Scott Albertson, senior director of sales and marketing for Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo, headquartered in Pescadero, CA.

Jacobs Farm was a successful organic farming operation in 1985, when longtime organic farmers and owners of the company, Larry Jacobs and Sandra Belin, were confident in their vision for their next venture. They encountered a community of struggling, subsistence-level farmers in Mexico, and the Del Cabo cooperative was conceived.

Jacobs Farm’s Early Girl tomatoes.Today, this collaboration between Jacobs Farm and the Baja growers provides over 1,300 farming families with needed training in organic growing, harvesting and handling, as well as start-up funds, farming technology, administrative training and consistent distribution channels that ensure the best return for small-scale farms. It now offers a wide range of high-quality organic produce to its customers.

Albertson explained that Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo is also looking to expand upon its original essence of being a company with strong roots in the local community and with a deep understanding of its soils and “terroir,” the French term he used that means a set of special characteristics that combine geography, geology and climate of a particular region.

“We have broadened our own Northern California farms production,” he said. “Coming off of a very successful second strawberry season we have a healthy crop of local zucchini, dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes, padron peppers, fresh green beans, summer squash and, recently, some specialty fresh organic apples. Fall will feature a full hard squash mix, including acorn, butternut, delicata, red kuri and others.”

Albertson further noted that the Jacobs Farm fresh herb business is bustling. The company planted up aggressively to service the coming fall season of peak demand.

Autumn in Baja is when Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo’s plantings of mixed heirloom cherry, specialty pear, honeybunch and classic red grape tomatoes come into full production with volumes readily available to promote.

“The Del Cabo farmers are busy with all kinds of diversity in the fields as well, with mixed peppers, fall squash and many other items also in promotable quantities,” said Albertson.

“We are increasing fair trade availability from many of our growing zones in Mexico and our import programs from small scale farmers in Peru,” he continued. “This Fall we will be resuming our shipments of delicious organic fair trade bananas and mangos as well.”