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Object Description
| Title | Jim Cochran: Swanton Berry Farm |
| Series Title | Cultivating a Movement: An Oral History of Organic Farming and Sustainable Agriculture on California’s Central Coast. Edited by Irene Reti and Sarah Rabkin. |
| Creator |
Cochran, Jim, narrator Farmer, Ellen, interviewer |
| Publisher | Santa Cruz, Calif. : University of California, Santa Cruz, University Library |
| Date of Publication | 2010 |
| Description/Abstract | 50 pages. Jim Cochran was born in Carlsbad, California in 1947. He came to UC Santa Cruz in the late 1960s as an undergraduate student to study child development and 19th century European intellectual history. As a student at Merrill College (one of the UC Santa Cruz residential colleges), he lived up the hill from the Chadwick Garden (Student Garden Project) and admired the organic food and flowers grown on that steep hillside. After he graduated, Cochran took a job as an assistant to organizers of Co-op Campesina, a farm worker-owned production co-op in the Pajaro Valley, California. He later helped several farmer co-ops in Central California with marketing and financial planning. This shaped his future role as founder of Swanton Berry Farm, famous as the first certified organic farm in the United States to sign a labor contract with the United Farm Workers (UFW). Swanton Berry Farm offers their workers low income housing on site, health insurance, vacation and holiday pay, a pension, and other benefits including an employee stock ownership program. In 2006 Cochran received the Honoring Advocates for Social Justice in Sustainable Agriculture ("Justie") Award from the Ecological Farming Association. Cochran began Swanton Berry Farm in 1983 because he wanted to try to grow strawberries organically. He was the first (modern) commercial organic strawberry farmer in California, and in 1987 the California Certified Organic Farmers certified his farm. Cochran’s methods became a resource for other organic strawberry growers, and in 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded him the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award for developing organic methods of growing strawberries that did not rely on the soil fumigant methyl bromide. A key component of Jim’s success was his partnership with UC Santa Cruz agroecologists Steve Gliessman and Sean Swezey in on-farm research. Travelers along the North Coast of Santa Cruz County visit the Swanton farm stand on Highway One, where they pick strawberries by the sea, and savor the fabulous jams, truffles, strawberry pies, scones and other treats concocted in the kitchen. When no one is minding the store, customers pay on the honor system, a lesson in trust that Cochran encourages. A photo exhibit documenting the agricultural history of Santa Cruz County and of the United Farm Workers is displayed above long comfortable tables where customers sip coffee supplied by the Community Agroecology Network. Ever a visionary, Cochran joined the Roots of Change Council’s Vivid Picture Project, which is "daring to dream up a comprehensive vision of a sustainable food system in California." He discusses all of these aspects of his career in this interview conducted by Ellen Farmer on December 10, 2007, at Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport, California. |
| Subject.LCSH |
Agricultural laborers--Labor unions United Farm Workers of America |
| Subject.Local |
Sustainable agriculture--history Organic farming--United States--History Organic farming--California Organic farming--Political aspects Strawberry industry--California Santa Cruz County (Calif.)--History--20th century Roots of Change (Organization) Swanton Berry Farms |
| Geographic Location.TGN |
Davenport Santa Cruz (county) California United States |
| Language | English |
| Owning Institution & Contact Info | Regional History Project, University Library, UC Santa Cruz |
| Owning Institution Homepage | Owning Institution homepage: http://library.ucsc.edu/regional-history-project |
| Copyright Statement | All uses of these manuscripts are covered by copyright agreement between the interviewees and the Regents of the University of California. Under “fair use” standards, excerpts of up to six hundred words (per interview) may be used without the Regional History Project’s permission as long as the materials are properly cited. The citation should include the title of the oral history, the name of the narrator, the date of publication, the pages of the oral history from which the excerpts come, and the fact that the oral history was produced by the Regional History Project at the University Library, UC Santa Cruz. Any excerpting beyond six hundred words requires the written permission of the University Librarian, appropriate citation, and may require a fee, especially if this is a commercial publication or production. Under certain circumstances, not-for-profit users may be granted a waiver of the fee. In all instances, the Regional History Project requests a copy of the publication for the UCSC Library’s collection. Please contact ihreti@ucsc.edu for copyright questions. |
Description
| Title | cochran |
