Perspective: Farm Fresh, Future Focused
Story by Casey Nauta
Photography by Gennan Shippen
In this Perspective piece, Casey Nauta discusses her role as the manager of the North County Farmers Market Association and how her experience growing up on a farm drew her to the work, despite her earlier inclination to leave the world of agriculture’s labor force behind.
I grew up on my family farm, Rocky Canyon Farms in Atascadero, California. My parents began their business from their joint senior project out of Cal Poly in 1990. Since I was a child, my parents have raised beef, pork, chicken for meat and eggs, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, winter squash and so much more. I was also a part of 4-H, FFA, rodeo and many other horse groups and activities growing up.
As a graduate of Cal Poly’s class of 2020, I know I’m young as a manager of this association. I’m the eldest of Generation Z — the Zoomers — a generation widely defined as being eternally online. Technology is a big career focus for my generation, not agriculture. But it’s a sector of our economy and our community, frankly, that I feel deserves our time and attention.
I didn’t always plan to work with farmers’ markets. Having growing up tending to crops and feeding the farm animals, my brothers and I always envisioned getting away and charting our own courses. But throughout college, I continued working for my parents and the Santa Margarita Feed. After college, I went to work for La Panza Ranch and Olive Oil where I helped with their olive oil sales, milling and bottling process. I also ran their office and helped with the cattle operation. After that, I focused and expanded upon my accounting background that I had started to learn at Santa Margarita Feed and La Panza Ranch and started working for MGE Underground. Life has a way of coming full circle — I guess I just couldn’t ever cut ties with the industry that raised me.
I learned so much valuable information in my previous roles but quickly learned that an office lifestyle was not for me. When the unique opportunity to manage the North County Farmers Market Association (NCFMA) arose, I went for it. I’m grateful the association took a chance on me. The farmers’ markets are generally a happy environment to be in, which is just a bonus to working with the farmers and makers who feed our local community.
Farming and ranching are hard ways to make a living. Not only are producers beholden to weather and environmental conditions, but regulations can also impact their ability to thrive. Labor costs are up, there’s a shortage of labor in the fields and many are selling the land to builders, who wipe out precious ag lands. Plus, my generation isn’t gravitating toward agriculture work — it’s much more technology focused. Nobody wants to be in the field doing this difficult work. It’s kind of scary to see the decline in farmers and ag land — farmers feed the world.
I speak with farmers and producers at each market, which includes four: Mondays in Baywood, Wednesdays in Atascadero, Templeton on Saturdays and Paso Robles on Tuesdays. My work includes managing inquiries, interfacing with customers, setting up signage and collecting vendor fees. It is also my responsibility to bring new products to the markets, along with ensuring they’re not oversaturated with any one product. I’m on site at every market, usually before any of the vendors have arrived. We operate year-round, save for a couple major holidays, rain or shine. The weather tends not to prevent farmers from coming to markets as most of them cannot regulate when their products are ready to be sold. Plus, people still need to eat despite the weather conditions.
We have a lot of farmers who are long time members of NCFMA. Many farmers make their livelihood with farming and have built long-lasting relationships with the public and the association. By offering the community a place to shop from local farmers and makers, we are encouraging people to shop local and seasonally. Here, customers are able to build relationships with the people they are buying their food from and often have firsthand access to talk to the farmers or makers directly.
Farmers’ markets are for everybody. We accept EBT, which encourages families with low incomes to purchase local, fresh ingredients and goods. We also have a Cal Fresh grant that allows us to give out a “market match” to EBT users. Our match amount varies year to year, but we currently offer up to $15 in match funds for fresh fruits and vegetables. A longtime member of our association, Bob Roos with Homestead Olive Ranch, volunteers his time to apply for and manage the paperwork side of the grant.
Farmers’ markets are so important to our health and our community. The system as a whole needs the support of younger generations, both in the fields as producers and in the markets as customers. I buy my produce and other groceries here because I want to support local farmers, but also because the meals I make with food from the markets is unparalleled. It’s a win-win.
