Once upon a time, before condos and strip malls and acres of residential subdivisions, Southern California was full of little farms.
It was “the largest, most bountiful agricultural county in the U.S.,” said Rachel Surls, sustainable food systems advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County and author of “From Cows to Concrete: The Rise and Fall of Farming in Los Angeles.” And then, after World War II, it became more lucrative to build houses than grow food.
“Really what changed was the value of land,” Surls said. After the war, the county’s population soared “and land was valued for other things than agriculture. Even the farmers who wanted to stay in business couldn’t because the taxes on land went up — sometimes as much as 300% in a year — and ancillary businesses they relied on, like packing houses, closed and went out of business.”
Then new municipal rules made farming illegal in many cities, she said. As the region became more urban, “people didn’t want cows and tractors in their neighborhoods. They didn’t want to live down the street from a poultry ranch or dairy and they didn’t want to drive their nice new car in their nice new subdivision behind a tractor going 10 miles per hour.”
All of that seems pretty quaint now; how many of us yearn to live near someone who grows fresh strawberries or raises chickens for eggs? Surls helps urban farmers as part of her job, and she says though there aren’t any formal statistics about the number of urban farms in our region, subjectively it feels like the tide is turning and more small farms are creeping into our urban area.
But it’s still a tough slog. Many urban farmers are growing on leased land that could be sold out from under them if the owner gets an offer too good to refuse, she said. And many use organic methods to farm, but can’t call themselves organic because they haven’t taken the time — up to three years — expense and bookkeeping required to get and keep a USDA organic certification.
And then there’s the competition from supermarkets and grocery stores where you can find almost any produce, no matter whether it’s in season here or not, at prices often lower than what farm stands can afford to charge.
Really, the big advantage that urban farms have is their freshness, a commodity that’s slowly reestablishing itself in American homes. You can see where your food was grown and — in some cases — even pick it yourself.
But many urban farms grow for restaurants, subscription boxes or even farmers markets in an attempt to regulate their income, so it’s not always easy to find a place where you can go and buy those freshly picked fruits and vegetables, or pick them yourself. That’s why we’ve compiled this list, to help you find your own farm experience.
We looked for places that are within L.A. or a two-hour drive away, selling produce primarily grown on their farms (although some larger farm stands may sell additional produce, eggs and other items produced elsewhere).
Note that only a few of these stands operate daily. Smaller farms only sell once a week or every other week because they just don’t have the space or help to grow and harvest enough food for daily sales. Others have created a whole “farm experience” around their stands, offering tours, “u-pick” options, petting zoos and other activities to draw customers in. If we’ve missed one of your favorite stands, email me at jeanette.marantos@latimes.com.