Lisle Babcock knows his citrus! We love finding innovative growers like Babcock, who are committed to growing new and unusual varieties full of flavor and harvested at their peak of ripeness. Babcock grows more than 60 varieties of citrus, from sweet limes and kumquats to pommelos, tangerines and the unusual but delicious African Shaddock. He uses a simple brushing method using a brush coated with natural compounds to clean his fruit and let it breathe. This produces a fruit that is full of its natural flavors, not artificial wax and fungicides. Babcock’s fruit is hand picked to order only when it’s fully ripe and ready to eat. It’s shipped to your door within days, not weeks, of harvest.

The story of Montana Legend begins with Malcolm Mackay, who began raising Black Angus beef on the Lazy E-L Ranch in Roscoe, Montana in 1901. Since then, four generations of family continue the tradition of raising all-natural Angus beef shipped from the farm. Prize stock, humane ranching and dry-aging results in the company’s famous well-marbled cuts noted for their robust flavor and buttery tenderness. The cattle are fed only the highest-quality grain and hay, with no antibiotic or hormone additives. By utilizing this type of feeding system, Montana Legend helps to improve and strengthen sustainable agriculture and family farming.

Located just south of the city of Yakima, Washington, nestled against the foothills of the lower valley, the Brandt family has tilled the land for generations.

Hoping to provide his family with a better life, Alex Sambado sold his San Francisco grocery store in the 1940s to move his family to rural Linden, CA. He purchased a cherry and walnut orchard and never would have guessed that his bold move would change the lives of the Sambado family for generations to come.  In the 1980s, Alex’s son, Lawrence, decided to make another daring move and reorganized the company his father founded to form Primavera Marketing, Inc. Lawrence partnered with Ross Westbrook, whose family had been in the wine and table grape business for three generations. Since then, Lawrence’s sons have joined the business and Primavera has established itself as a leader in shipping California cherries around the globe. In addition to producing cherries and walnuts, Primavera now produces premium apples, grapes, peaches, nectarines, Kobocha squash, onions and peppers.

Blossom Hill Packing/Lucich and Santos Farms have specialized in growing apricots for the past 35 years. Located in Patterson, CA, the family has been farming for more than 90 years and takes great pride in providing good-tasting, high-quality fruit to its customers.

Achadinha Cheese Company was formed in 2004 by Jim and Donna Pacheco of Pacheco Family Dairy in Petaluma, California. Using the dairy’s goat milk, they produce two award-winning cheeses – Broncha and Capricious. The Pacheco Family Dairy was established in 1953 in Bodega Bay, and in 1969, they relocated to Petaluma, where Jim and Donna reside with their family.  The Achadinha Cheese Company is dedicated to education, awareness and acceptance of goat meats and goat cheeses as healthy, natural food sources while preserving small family farms.

Clearwater Country Foods is an earth-friendly company dedicated to producing safe, healthy food using environmentally friendly methods. Douglas Moser, president of Clearwater Country Foods, is the fourth generation farmer in Palouse Valley, Idaho. Douglas, his wife, Judy, and their three children began producing fresh garbanzo beans in 1980. New technology and enhanced harvesting equipment introduced by Clearwater Country Foods now makes this delicious legume available fresh year round.

Lone Willow Ranch sits along California’s San Joaquin River, which provides ideal soil and climate conditions for growing heirloom tomatoes. The ranch is owned and operated by John M. Teixeira and has been organic certified for the past 13 years. Lone Willow Ranch markets 57 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. The tomatoes are hand harvested twice a week at their peak of flavor. The fruit is taken out of the field, packed under the trees and put into boxes for same-day delivery. The ranch also grows six varieties of eggplant, bell peppers and a large variety of melons and corn.

Sierra Olive Oil is known for its award-winning Mission/Lucca Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Chinese Camp (near Yosemite), the company hand produces each bottle of olive oil to ensure freshness and high-quality flavor. The company planted Mission and Lucca olive trees 13 years ago and is now in its sixth year of olive oil production. All of the company’s oil is extra virgin without any additives, preservatives, chemicals or heat used during the extraction process. Old family recipes are used to make the company’s popular EVOO Blends, featuring herbs and spices such as Basil/Garlic, Dillweed/Clove and Sundried Tomato/Basil. These blended oils are perfect for dipping, dressings, marinades and cooking.

Koda Farms is the oldest, continuously family-owned and operated rice farm in California. Keisaburo Koda immigrated to the San Joaquin Valley town of Dos Palos where he built and operated a thriving rice growing, drying and milling operation. He created a corporation with his American-born children as stockholders to comply with the Alien Land Law of 1913, which denied aliens ineligible for citizenship the right to own land in California. Keisaburo’s sons rebuilt the farm after World War II, introducing Americans to Kohuho Rose, the first premium medium-grain rice. To this day, Koda Farms is the sole grower of this proprietary strain, which is legendary in the food industry for its unique and superior taste and appearance.

Catania-Spagna’s roots go back to Guiseppe Basile in the tiny village of San Pero, Sicily.  Basile immigrated to America in 1900 with a few barrels of olive oil and a vision of starting a family business in the states. Today, the company is under the leadership of Anthony and Robert Basile and is an industry leader in the olive oil business. It has also diversified into retail, foodservice, organic and specialty markets.

Mission Produce is a global packer and distributor of avocados with operations in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile and New Zealand. Mission growers around the world are focused on the highest quality fruit and rigid standards for food safety. Mission supports its growers unlike any other avocado handler and works hard to develop long-term, trusting relationships that are mutually beneficial. The staggered growing seasons from Mission’s global sources enable the company to provide a year-round supply of great tasting avocados.

Progresso Produce was founded by Dale DeBerry more than 40 years ago. He began growing and selling onions from the small town of Progresso, TX near the Texas-Mexico border. The company takes great pride in growing high-quality onions, watermelon, lime and honeydew to name a few. It also sources product from some of the best growers in the business to guarantee consistent quality and supply.

Onions, Etc. is owned by Derrell Kelso, Jr., a fifth generation farmer. In 1969, his family started Kelso Truck Farm, where they grew five acres of Italian sweet onions, sweet corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, black eyed peas and many other crops for 300 families that canned and froze their fresh produce for the winter.  Today, Derrell and his wife, Donna, own and operate Onions, Etc., where they farm, pack and repack close to $20 million worth of onions and specialty potatoes to more than 5,000 stores throughout the U.S. and Canada. Derrell’s family takes pride in supplying consumers with the best of the best: from the finest produce available superior customer service. He is also deeply committed to rekindling the consumer/farmer relationship that has been such an important part of America’s heritage.

Inspired by the dreams of five generations, Miramont Estate Vineyards celebrates a tradition of agricultural excellence begun by the Pechan family more than a century ago. In 1997, the family established Miramont Estate Vineyards. Nested in the Sierra foothills, the vineyard and boutique winery are located in the Lodi appellation in California. Its Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes thrive in the Mediterranean climate; they are bathed in golden sunlight, caressed nightly by cool Pacific breezes, and then harvested under starlight to protect their luscious flavor at its peak.  Its Celestial wines feature an exquisite concentration of flavors and elegant aromas that are simply heavenly.

Oregon Berry Packing Company was founded in 1948 by Louis and Mary Malensky. Three generations of the Malensky's continue to work side-by-side in the production of the highest quality berries available in the market. At Oregon Berry Packing Company we maintain tight controls over every process--from growing, to shipping, to packing, to distribution. Our processing plant uses the most modern and effective technology to set the highest cleanliness and sanitation standards in the berry industry.

Made from organic, premium wine grapes and other varietals from California’s San Joaquin Valley, Bela Juice was started by the Coelho brothers, third generation farmers in Riverdale, CA. The brothers’ grandfather, Joe, came from Portugal to the San Joaquin Valley and started a dairy farm in the 1920s. The farm was passed to Joe’s three sons and now his grandchildren and their families, including brothers John, Joe III and Jerry Coelho. The family has set out to make a wholesome, organic juice that is an extension of what they believe in: pure food for humans.

Located in Hope, Minnesota, Hope Creamery is one of the only independently owned creameries in the state churning out butter in small batches the old-fashioned way.  Made from fresh, local cream, the company’s Grade A butter is prized by chefs, bakers and consumers. With a taste and texture comparable to European butter, it is available in salted, unsalted and organic varieties.

Passion Fruit Farms is run by third generation fig farmer Tonetta Simone Gladwin and her husband, Blair Gladwin. Tonetta, the “fig lady,” handles sales, marketing and supervision of the picking and planting schedules, while Blair does all the farming, shipping and purchasing. Tonetta’s grandfather, Mauro Simone, planted and farmed many of the first fig orchards in California’s San Joaquin Valley and was a true pioneer in the fresh and dry fig industry.  Handling one of the most perishable fresh fruit commodities takes more than luck and timing; it takes skill and commitment. Within 24 hours of being picked, their product is on its way toward its destination. Although many things have changed since Tonetta’s grandfather did the farming many decades ago, one thing remains the same: they continue to take great pride in bringing only the highest quality fresh figs from their family to yours.

The Pandol family has been farming table grapes in the Delano area since 1946. The family farms approximately 3,000 acres of table grapes in the Delano area. The company is managed by second, third and fourth generation Pandol family members. The family takes pride in their family farming tradition of providing sweet and flavorful table grapes to consumers for over sixty years

Bay Coffee & Tea Company was founded in 2004 as an artisan, organic coffee roaster and retailer of organic and specialty teas. Through the company’s network of coffee farming cooperatives and responsible organic food brokers, Bay Coffee provides the highest-quality coffee beans and teas from farming regions around the world, including Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras and the countries of Columbia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Indonesia and India.

For outstanding organic peaches, plums and nectarines, look no farther than Olson Family Farms in Kinsburg, CA. Known as the Mercedes Benz of the California stone fruit industry, Olson Family Farms has come a long way since John and Anna Olson bought 22 acres in 1889 and began farming.  Today, brothers Richard and Wayne Olson are fourth-generation growers, packers and shippers specializing in organic stone fruits. The Olson family has always grown organically because they believe it is the best way to care for the land. They live on the original family farm property and offer 95 varieties of certified organic peaches, plums and nectarines.

Summeripe farmers make California’s San Joaquin Valley home for their peach, plum and nectarine orchards. The soil is perfect for growing tree fruit, and the area, known as the “fruit basket of the world,” provides the proper climate for growing delicious peaches, plums and nectarines. Summeripe has a passion for high quality. They know the right balance of low acid, high sugar levels and proper ripeness of stone fruit, so that when it’s shipped to consumers, it’s sweet, juicy and ready to eat.