Holy Guacamole! Sustainable Farming and Soil Health at Petty Ranch

In this episode of Farm Talk, host Paul Ward visits Petty Ranch in Saticoy, California, with special guest Chris Sayer, a fifth-generation farmer. Chris discusses the transition of Petty Ranch from growing lemons since the 1930s to becoming a 100% avocado farm. The decision to switch crops is attributed to opportunities for crop rotation, changes in the global lemon market, and pest and seed issues. Chris details the types of avocados they grow, including the Hass and Lamb Hass varieties, and highlights their commitment to soil health through practices such as cover cropping and mulching. The discussion also touches on the water-saving benefits of these practices, contributing to improved soil structure and water retention.

Chris Sayer emphasizes the importance of sustainable farming, mentioning the farm’s efforts to enhance soil health and water efficiency. The conversation explores the impact of cover crops on soil moisture, water holding capacity, and drainage improvement. Chris also anticipates the future application of technology in agriculture, particularly in soil monitoring and water management. The episode concludes with insights into the collaborative farming culture in Ventura County, the significance of Ventura County’s agricultural green belt, and the unique climate that makes it an ideal region for farming.

Watch the full episode on Paul’s YouTube Channel: HERE

0:00 Welcome to the show
0:29 This is Petty Ranch and its size
0:42 Are avocados the main crop
1:05 Why are you switching from one crop to another
1:34 What varieties of avocados does Petty Ranch grow
2:04 What is the difference between hass and lamb hass avocados
2:50 Does Petty Ranch sell directly or use a packing house
3:37 Out of the box thinking for healthy soil at Petty Ranch
4:37 How cover crops are planted at Petty Ranch
5:36 How much water does Chris Sayer estimate is being saved due to cover crops
7:53 Are other farmers also doing cover crops
9:16 Do these practices fall under a regenerative category
11:16 What are allocation cuts with water
12:23 If the water is cut back on an avocado tree it won’t produce well
13:14 The best time to water
14:05 Does cover crop help reduce dust when the winds come
14:49 How many generations of Sayers have been farming Petty Ranch
15:04 Did previous generations farm full time or was it a hobby and Chris Sayer’s story
17:45 Did Chris grow up on Petty Ranch and does his mom still live on the ranch
17:56 Petty Ranch is farming in Santa Paula too
18:10 Educational groups at Petty Ranch
19:24 The outdoor classroom where kids come and learn
19:43 Sesame Street at Petty Ranch
20:51 Where is technology going in terms of agriculture and water conservation in Ventura County
22:28 Different parts of the ranch keep moisture longer
23:29 Artificial Intelligence and agriculture
25:19 The cost of labor and workman’s comp
25:56 Collaboration between local farmers
26:47 Chris Sayer and Farm Day
27:27 The Green Belt of Ventura County and the ocean and Sespe Watershed
29:34 Thank you Chris Sayer for being our guest
29:48 Thank you to our sponsor: Opus Escrow

Contact Pau Ward:
paul@homeandranchteam.com
805-479-5004

Related Episodes:
Harvesting Futures in Agricultural Education
Organic and Sustainable Hop Farming in Fillmore, CA
Sage Brews- A Female Owned Organic Brewery

Have ideas for future episodes? We’d love to answer your questions – leave a comment! For any home buying or home selling needs in the Ventura County area of California, please reach out to Paul@HomeAndRanchTeam.com or visit www.HomeAndRanchTeam.com

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Paul Ward (00:05):

Hi, friends, Paul Ward here, and welcome to another edition of Farm Talk. I’m very excited. Today we are in Saticoy, California, which is just east of Ventura and west of Santa Paula in the heart of Ventura County. And our special guest is Chris Sayer, a longtime fifth generation farmer here in the valley. Chris, welcome to the show.

Paul Ward (00:27):

Thank you. Paul.

Paul Ward (00:29):

This is Petty Ranch. Correct?

Chris Sayer (00:31):

Petty Ranch, yeah.

Paul Ward (00:32):

And you, farm about 50, 52 55 acres here?

Chris Sayer (00:35):

Yeah. There are about 52 acres that are plantable here and another 20 acres in Santa Paula.

Paul Ward (00:42):

Oh, okay. And what, I mean, we’re sitting in a beautiful avocado grove. So obviously you’re farming avocados. Is that your main crop here?

Chris Sayer (00:50):

Yes. For years really since the 1930s, lemons we’re number one for us. But we’re nearing the end of a transition. And by the end of this year, the last lemon trees will be out and we’ll be a hundred percent avocados.

Paul Ward (01:05):

And why are you switching from one crop to another?

Chris Sayer (01:08):

So, part of it just rolls down to the opportunity for crop rotation. You know, some of this ground has had citrus in it for 80 years and it’ll do the crops good to have a, you know, a change of change of scenery. .

Chris Sayer (01:23):

But, you know, there’ve also been some changes in the global lemon market and some pest and seed issues that you know, help to make the decision a little bit easier to make that transition.

Paul Ward (01:34):

And in terms of avocados, I know you’ve got hass avocado. Is that your primary variety? Do you have other varieties as well?

Chris Sayer (01:42):

Yeah, we grow both the house variety and also the lamb hass. We’ve got slightly more acreage of the regular hass, but the lamb produces a little bit more heavily. So, you know, depending on whether you can’t buy trees or acreage, or fruit depends on which one is our primary. They’re sort of, you know, 50/50.

Paul Ward (02:04):

And what is the difference between a traditional hass and lamb hass?

Chris Sayer (02:09):

So, the difference for a consumer is fairly subtle. It mostly comes down to size. Lamb hass just tends to be a much larger fruit. I know in last season’s crop; our average house avocado is about seven and a half ounces. Our average lamb hass was about 10 and a half ounces. So, it’s a much larger piece of fruit, but otherwise looks pretty similar. Most of your viewers have probably seen them in the supermarket but they’re rarely labeled as lamb hass. Usually, it just says extra-large or jumbo avocado.

Paul Ward (02:44):

Right. Yeah. They just make sure that there’s no blemishes when they pick them off the shelf.

Chris Sayer (02:49):

Pretty much. Yeah.

Paul Ward (02:50):

Do you sell your own crops or are you selling to a packing house?

Chris Sayer (02:55):

No. All our avocados go through Mission Produce based in Oxnard. And you know, they’re one of the global leaders in the avocado world. So we’re really fortunate to have them right here in our backyard. .

Paul Ward (03:06):

And so, they’re shipped all over the world, I would assume.

Chris Sayer (03:09):

You know, actually, most California avocados are just consumed west of the Rockies.

Paul Ward (03:15):

Oh, really?

Chris Sayer (03:15):

You know, California avocados are only about 10% of US consumption these days. And so those of us on this side of the country are fortunate you know, to get the best, no knock on the Mexican stuff, but you know, out here where people know avocados and care, that’s where most of the California avocados go.

Paul Ward (03:37):

And you’re doing some, you know, out of the box forward thinking stuff. Right. You’ve got some pretty healthy soil around us.

Chris Sayer (03:45):

Yeah. One of the things we started almost 20 years ago was really trying to focus on improving our soil so that we could improve water infiltration and retention. You know, you only have so much land and it’s hard to get ahold of more. So, we decided to make the best use of it that we can. And so, we’ve had a fairly vigorous program of both mulching, you know, bringing in wood chips to help build up the soil. And also cover cropping, which is growing. You know, some of them are edible crops of barley or types of peas or diakon radish which are edible to people, but we’re not growing ’em for that. We’re growing ’em for the soil, because as those break down, those provide more nutrients to help feed the trees and really improve our soil texture and structure.

Paul Ward (04:37):

So, now the cover crops, the radishes and the others, how do you do that? Do you do that down the center of the row or between the trees, or how does that work?

Chris Sayer (04:48):

Yeah, so those go down the center of the row. And usually, we seed them just about this time of year. We’ve already got our seed in the barn and waiting, and we’ll go ahead and get it out once we’re pretty sure we’ve got an inch or more of rain coming in the next few days. We don’t irrigate the cover crop. It’s entirely fed by the winter rainfall.

Paul Ward (05:10):

Oh, really?

Chris Sayer (05:11):

And you know, the philosophy is that we’re gonna use the winter rain when we’ve got, you know, the one time a year you’ve got extra water in California to grow something which will improve the soil. So, in the summertime, we’ve got better soil and better water holding characteristics. So that we get to use a little bit less water summertime when you can, you know, you want to get ahold of every drop you can.

Paul Ward (05:36):

Right. And then what? How much water do you feel that you’re saving when you do a cover crop?

Chris Sayer (05:42):

So, we started it mostly just focusing on wanting to try and open up the soil more so that we could eliminate runoff and help improve drainage. Because we had a few spots where water would pool. And so, we really didn’t worry about that initially. But after we’d been doing it a few years and I started doing more homework on the other benefits of it. I looked up the conversion rate of what an improvement in the soil organic matter is, you know, the biomass is added to the soil. And based on the numbers that we’ve had our soil tested here we’ve been able to improve our soil’s water holding capacity by about two and a half million gallons a year that when it rains that soaks in and stays right here instead of running off.

Paul Ward (06:39):

That’s phenomenal, two and a half million!

Chris Sayer (06:41):

Yeah. Yeah. It’s been a big change since I was a kid. You know, we just had a great rainfall this past year. It was big. And if that had happened, you know, when I was 12 or 13, the couple drains that we have on the property would’ve completely backed up, and I would’ve been out there with a shovel every hour digging them out to keep the flooding from becoming a problem. But as much water as we got this winter except for the one day where it was at its heaviest, none of it left. Everything we had this summer, soaked in. And so that just was, great validation. ‘Cause we did a lot of the cover crop work. Going into that, you know, big drought of the 20 teens. And so, I knew that theory said we were gonna be retaining all of this water, and we didn’t get enough rainfall to actually test it. And then we had a few good rainfall years, and sure enough we can soak up at least two inches more rainfall before you start seeing any sort of flooding issues here. That would’ve been the case you know, 30, 40 years ago.

Paul Ward (07:53):

Wow! And are other farmers following in the same practice, or are you kind of an outlier, would you say?

Chris Sayer (07:59):

Well, I’m proud to say we were one of the first. But, you know, when we started, it was still a very unusual practice. Because for years, you know, the mark of a good farmer was to have not a blade of grass, no weeds sticking, no weeds, no weeds at all. And so when we planted that initially I was kind of curious what the reaction was gonna be. And you know, my dad came home and told me one day he is like, “You know, I ran into somebody down at the post office and he says, ‘You know, I was driving by your place the other day, and I saw this greenery get all his, you know, stuff growing in your roads.’ And then sort of under his breath, he says, ‘Are those comp crops?'” And it was like, okay. So, it was interesting that people got it. So yeah, I’d say we were- I can’t know for certain- that we were the first, but we were certainly one of the first to start doing that in Ventura County. I would say it’s probably 15-20% of citrus acreage now I guess. And I’ve never been able to find a published number, but just, anecdotally for sure, keeping my eyes open as I drive around. I’d say it’s somewhere in that range.

Paul Ward (09:16):

Interesting. Yeah. And would you say this kind of falls in the regenerative category? Like you’re making your own soil, and the worms are coming back and the good bugs?

Chris Sayer (09:25):

Yeah, exactly. In fact, if you look at the historical soil conservation service maps for this area, this area should have between 2.5 And 3% organic matter in the soil. And usually when people talk about regenerative agriculture, they’re talking about practices that just restore you back to that level. But because of the practices we’ve been doing, we’ve actually been able to exceed our natural level. So, we’ve repeatedly had our place measured between 5 and 5.5%, Almost double, you know, what it would be in its natural state. So, it’s you know, we’re very proud of that. And of course, again, that all goes towards helping to soak up water and hold that water into the late spring and early summer.

Paul Ward (10:21):

Yeah.

Chris Sayer (10:21):

By the time we get to late summer, it’s always pretty dry. But we see that as having an impact on our irrigation schedule. You know, we’re able to go a little bit longer between irrigations. We need to irrigate a little bit less than we do. And that means we’re able to have our avocados growing here with nice results, but using about 25% water or less than is the standard, you know, classic rule of thumb. Right. For avocados and citrus.

Paul Ward (10:55):

So, that’s big.

Chris Sayer (10:57):

It’s big. It’s a huge saving and it’s a nice peace of mind because we operate with a cap. We can only get so much water in a year, and if it’s a really bad year, then our allocation is gonna get cut. And so we know that even if things got bad enough that we’d take that first allocation cut, we could still continue with our with our practices.

Paul Ward (11:19):

You say allocation cuts means that you have a private well, but you can’t just keep it running 24/7. You’ve got restrictions.

Chris Sayer (11:27):

Yes. We have our own well, which is great in terms of flexibility but we’re sitting here as part of what’s called the Santa Paula Groundwater Basin. And that was under court order from the early 1990s to say, you can only withdraw a certain amount of water from this basin. And it went to court, it was a subject of a lot of legal wrangling. But they came up with a settlement that says, okay, every property that has a well has this number. This is what you can draw. And if we need to cut back, there’s a series of steps. And that first cut is a 25% reduction. And so, as we we’re planning out our changes to our orchard and our irrigation system, we set things up with the design so that we could, in normal years run 25% below our allocation, so that if ever gets bad enough, we have to take that first cut, then we’re good to go.

Paul Ward (12:23):

Interesting. And I know that an avocado, and correct me if I’m wrong, but an avocado tree can look really pretty, but if you cut back on water, it’s not gonna produce.

Chris Sayer (12:35):

Yeah. Avocados are not native to Mediterranean client climates. They’re happy here. But they’re native to a semi-tropical area, and they’re used to regular, relatively shallow rainfall. And so, we’re finding our best results with avocados is to give them water every five days, maybe seven days at the most. If possible, just to keep that ground underneath the trees moist. They don’t have really deep root systems, so we don’t need to irrigate for a long time, but we do need to give them some water, you know, fairly frequently.

Paul Ward (13:14):

But if it’s gonna be hot, you don’t water when it’s hot. Right. You water before it’s hot. Is that correct?

Chris Sayer (13:19):

Yeah, ideally you will, if you know that there’s heat coming, you want to irrigate ahead, let the trees get well hydrated and get ready for it. And then once the heat is actually here then yes, if we can in really hot temperatures say, you know, a hundred plus, then you know, then we’ll try and irrigate at that time too. Because of course, usually here a hundred-degree temperatures are, you know, accompanied by east winds. So, it’s not just the heat, it’s also the, you know, the 10% humidity and, you know, the 40, 50 mile an hour winds, which are sucking moisture out of the trees. So yeah. If it’s really bad, we try to give them a little extra boost.

Paul Ward (14:05):

And I would imagine the cover crop also keeps some moisture in the soil and prevents the dust bowl, and, you know, when that wind comes.

Chris Sayer (14:13):

Exactly. It definitely keeps, you know, the physical structure of the roots of the cover crop. Even if by the summer, the cover crops usually die because it’s mostly annual grasses and it gets mowed down and then dies off. But that root structure is still there, so it’s still holding the soil in place, and it’s still holding some moisture in that soil so that yes. We don’t just get blowing dust taking all of the topsoil we’ve worked so hard to build. You know, it stays here. You know, we paid for it. We intend to keep it.

Paul Ward (14:49):

Yep. And you mentioned cleaning drains when you were 12. How many generations has your family been farming?

Chris Sayer (14:56):

We’ve been farming here for five generations. I’m the fifth. And so, it’s, you know, we’ve seen a few changes in Ventura County over that time.

Paul Ward (15:04):

Oh, absolutely. So, your dad was a full-time farmer and your grandfather as well? Or was it kind of a hobby for them?

Chris Sayer (15:12):

So, so because we’re, you know, our operation is comparatively small compared to some of the others. Usually it’s been the tradition, if you will, in my family that we go off, you know, try something else for a few years and then come back. Because we’ve never been quite large enough that we could support, you know, two generations at once, but a generation and a half, you know, we can do that. So yeah, my dad went to you know, worked in aerospace in the 1960s during the space race and all of that. And then came back in the early seventies when he was in his mid-thirties to pick up the reins and start taking charge of the family operations.

Chris Sayer (16:03):

And I had a somewhat similar background out of college. I was initially a pilot, an officer in the Navy.

Paul Ward (16:12):

Oh, wow.

Chris Sayer (16:12):

And then worked in Silicon Valley for a few years during the original dot-com boom. Before coming back here, because we hit that scenario where my wife and I had always talked from, you know, as soon as we were married, that, you know, coming back to Ventura and playing a role in the family farm you know, this would be a great place to raise the kids. We were really excited about doing that. And in the spring of 2001 when the dot-com bubble was starting to deflate. Both of our kids were gonna have to change schools the coming year anyway.

Chris Sayer (16:54):

You know, my dad had turned 65. We were like, this seemed like this might be the time to do it. So, we made the move and we’re supposed to close escrow on our place in Santa Paula on September of 11th, 2001.

Paul Ward (17:13):

Oh, wow.

Chris Sayer (17:14):

And the wire transactions didn’t go through, the escrow didn’t close that day because nothing good happened that day. So, it’s interesting to me is that date, you know a lot of people like to say, you know, everything changed on that day. You know, in our case it really literally did because, not just professionally, but everything else. You know, so it’s a real watermark in our timeline.

Paul Ward (17:45):

You grew up here on this, on this ranch?

Chris Sayer (17:47):

Yeah. Yeah. My childhood bedroom is only about 120 feet from where we’re sitting right now.

Paul Ward (17:53):

And mom still lives there?

Chris Sayer (17:54):

She’s still there. Yeah.

Paul Ward (17:56):

And now you’re gonna be farming, or you are farming more acreage in Santa Paula then?

Chris Sayer (18:00):

Yes. Yeah. So that’s also avocados. So yeah, for the first time in a while, we’ll be down; we’ll be a single crop operation.

Paul Ward (18:10):

And you’ve got student groups that now come to the property and learn kind of, the next generation, who don’t really know where their food comes from other than the grocery store. <Laugh> you’ve invited education groups to come out and learn here on the farm.

Chris Sayer (18:24):

Yeah. We were really fortunate to establish a great relationship with Mary Maranville and her nonprofit SEEAG, back when SEEAG and Mary Maranville were literally the same thing, because she was just starting it. And she was the only member of the organization at that point. And yet she had a great vision for helping connect kids to agriculture and also using that as a platform to not only introduce them to agriculture and healthy food and those types of things, but also as a connector to science, technology, engineering and math. And built a program around that. And a couple of years later when she was looking for a home to actually put that out on the farm, she approached me, and we were really happy to be able to provide a site for them to do that.

Paul Ward (19:24):

So, you’ve got a little outdoor classroom here on your farm where the kids come and learn?

Chris Sayer (19:28):

Yeah. Yeah. The kids, they come sit under a little shade structure and sit on hay bales. I like to call it the compostable classroom <laugh> because, you know, the hay bales last one season and then they return to the soil one way or another.

Paul Ward (19:43):

Right. And I understand that you had Sesame Street actually out here.

Chris Sayer (19:47):

Yeah. Yeah. We’re in a future episode; yet to have an announced air date. We were the site for a little segment that Sesame Street’s doing on figs where we have a very small planting, only about half an acre. But that’s also where the school program takes place. And they were looking for a place that grew them close to Los Angeles for their crew and their film structure. Yeah. We were happy to be able to provide a site for that. And so, they came out and did a few days of filming. And so, one thing I never thought I’d be able to put on my resume was an appearance on Sesame Street, but there you go. My already strange resume gets a little stranger with that.

Paul Ward (20:34):

Well, that is fun though.

Chris Sayer (20:35):

Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, it was really remarkable. It was a great, really professional crew and really fascinating to see how that gets done.

Paul Ward (20:48):

Yeah, learning about kids, learning about figs.

Chris Sayer (20:50):

Yeah. Yeah.

Paul Ward (20:51):

So where do you think technology’s going in terms of agriculture and water conservation here in Ventura County, California?

Chris Sayer (20:58):

So, I think there are a lot of new tools that are coming along that are gonna be really exciting. You know, for most of the 20th century, we were really starting to experiment with understanding agriculture through chemistry, you know, understanding the needs for nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus that trees and plants would have, and how to get those to them in the right amounts. But of course, plant biology and agriculture are more complicated than just chemistry. Now with the computing power that’s available with the information that can be exchanged on a regular basis, I think really in the 21st century, we’re gonna be learning a lot more about what’s going on beneath the soil and learning more about what we can’t see and what we can’t measure by older methods.

Chris Sayer (21:56):

So, we’re sitting very close to a soil moisture sensor and weather station here that can measure stuff and send it to my phone that 40 years ago, we would have either been able to not measure at all or would’ve sent a sample to a lab. And, you know, a couple of weeks to get a response back. And now we can watch it in more or less real time. It’s amazing. And make adjustments on the fly.

Paul Ward (22:28):

I would imagine that different parts of the ranch too, are staying moist longer than other parts of the ranch.

Chris Sayer (22:37):

Yes. Yes. If you know, we only have two of these stations right now, which I think do a pretty good job of reflecting our two major soil types you know, within the ranch. It sort of transitions a little bit as you go east to west. But as this technology matures, then we’ll very likely tweak it, add more stations, and be able to fine tune the ability to deliver not just water, but also nutrition to the trees in just the right amount, but no more.

Paul Ward (23:15):

Yah, the tree is still a living thing, you know?

Chris Sayer (23:17):

Yeah, exactly. Every living organism needs to be fed, and pretty much no living organism likes to be overfed. If nothing else, it ends up adding expense or creating waste.

Paul Ward (23:29):

Have you heard anything about artificial intelligence coming into play in agriculture?

Chris Sayer (23:34):

I have. I think we’re going to probably see most of that get applied in areas that won’t necessarily hit Ventura County first. We’re one of the great agricultural counties in this nation. $2 billion a year of crops leave Ventura County Farms to go to consumers. That’s larger than almost half the states in the country. It’s really a remarkable thing. But so many of the crops that we grow here are unique either to Ventura County or generally coastal California. So, we’re a relatively small acreage here. So, for instance, there are only 50,000 acres of avocados in the whole state of California. Oh, really? I didn’t know that. Yeah. That

Paul Ward (24:25):

Oh, really? I didn’t know that. That’s 50,000.

Chris Sayer (24:25):

Yeah. Yeah. It’s only about 50,000 and about 18,000 of those are right here in Ventura County. And when you compare the millions of acres of wheat or corn or soybeans in the Midwest the people who are gonna be developing those kinds of tools are gonna go after the large markets first. And then that technology, as it gets perfected, it’ll trickle down to the smaller and more niche-y crops. So, I do think it’ll get here, but this is one area where oddly enough we’ll probably be a little bit behind the curve. And I think we’ll still probably see a lot of the technology particularly in terms of things like robotic harvesters. You know, we’ll be one of the last areas where you see those in large forests, at least in, you know, in free crops.

Paul Ward (25:19):

Sure. Well, the cost of labor gets so much more expensive and workers’ comp.

Chris Sayer (25:24):

Yeah. Oh, it will get here. And it’ll change the face of the agricultural workforce. There’ll be fewer jobs, but probably better paid jobs for the most part. But yeah. It’ll be a very interesting transition. But like I said, if you are gonna be betting on some venture capitals are you going to go after the 20,000-acre market or the million-acre market? Obviously, you want to go with the big market first.

Paul Ward (25:56):

Makes sense. Yeah. Do you collaborate with other farmers in the area, or does everybody kind of do their own thing?

Chris Sayer (26:03):

Yeah, Ventura County actually has a really long tradition of collaboration among farmers. A lot of the organizations that support farmers here were founded as cooperatives of 80, 90 or a hundred years ago. I’m a very proud member of the Ventura County Farm Bureau that has been around since 1914. And as well as a board member for the Associates Insectary, which provides beneficial insects and pest control services to growers. And they’ve been around since 1928. So you know, there’s been a long, long history of pulling our resources and pulling together.

Paul Ward (26:47):

And you participate in Farm Day?

Chris Sayer (26:50):

Yes. That’s also put on by SEEAG. Same folks who bring you a farm lab here at our ranch. And that’s one day a year where they have about 20 farms, mas or menos on any given year, agree to open their ranches and farms to the general public to give guided tours and to talk to our 800,000 urban and suburban neighbors about what it is we do here and what it is they see as they drive past on (highways) 126 or 101.

Paul Ward (27:27):

We’re located in a green belt. Right. A farming green belt. And it extends like 30 miles long or longer.

Chris Sayer (27:36):

Yes. Basically, from the eastern side of Ventura you’ve got the little pockets of the city of Santa Paula and Fillmore. But otherwise, it’s pretty much an unbroken agricultural belt all the way till you get to I-5 and Magic Mountain. And part of what makes this really unique is that this is one of the very few east-west valleys in coastal California that opens up to the ocean. Most of California, whether it’s the San Joaquin Valley, San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley is cut off from the ocean. They’re just little bowls, no high valley for instance. And so that means that you get that coastal influence much farther inland. And so that really gives us a great growing climate, you know, over a much wider area. And also, the fact that we’re a river valley that brings all the water from the Sespe Watershed, really all the way up behind Santa Barbara and Carpinteria comes down and through the Santa Clara River and helps her recharge our groundwater basin and make sure that we’ve got enough water. So, the combination of climate and water and the deep topsoil, especially as you get farther out onto the Oxnard plain really just makes us a spectacular place for farming.

Paul Ward (28:54):

I never really thought about how long the valley was without any mountains intruding on the airflow.

Chris Sayer (29:04):

They get hot, they get muggy or smoggy, and if you have an inversion layer, then the air quality really suffers. And here, you know, even where I live, past Santa Paula, we still get fog every morning. In the summertime you’ve got that coastal influence that really helps moderate the temperatures, keeps it a little cooler in the summer and a little bit warmer in the winter.

Paul Ward (29:34):

Well, Chris Sayer, thank you so much for being our guest on this edition of Farm Talk. We’ve loved having you and learning from you and I’m sure that our watchers and listeners will appreciate what you have to share.

Chris Sayer (29:46):

Absolutely. I appreciate it, Paul.

Paul Ward (29:48):

And of course, we want to thank our sponsor, Opus Escrow and be sure to tune in next time for the next edition of Farm Talk.