Heritage club honors farms for tradition and resilience
to honor the state’s agricultural pioneers. “It’s important to get our story out,” said Christine Birdsong, undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “I don’t think it’s an overstate- ment to say that the families and ranches that are here today and have been honored in the past have done the most for the lon- gest to make sure that family farms remain a vibrant part of California’s story.” The farms and ranches inducted into the club have shown what it takes to stay in business. Now records of their endur- ance—across generations and centuries—
are preserved by the California State Fair. “We’ve never been without challenges,” Birdsong said, “but somehow, farmers and ranchers have incredible resourcefulness that carries us through.” This year, two businesses were in- ducted into the California Agricultural Heritage Club, while six farms, including Hulsman Ranch, were honored for reach- ing milestones of 125 or 150 years or more of continuous operation. Diamond B Ranch in San Diego County,
By Caleb Hampton In 2020, historic Hulsman Ranch was no match for the Sheep Fire, as flames destroyed most of the Lassen County cattle and timber operation. Undeterred, Hannah Tangeman, who runs the ranch with her sister Susan, slept on a cot in the meadow and kept watch for the sheep and cattle. “In case the fire encroached,” she re- called, “I was going to cut more fences to get them into the neighbors.’” The animals went unharmed, but the fire burned 90% of the trees, wiping out the timber business and leaving hillsides bare and vulnerable to floods that further devastated the land a year later. More than a century and a half into busi- ness, Hulsman Ranch, which was estab- lished in 1862 and has been run by women since 1914, had to start over. Earlier this year, the ranch replanted 100,000 trees. “I didn’t think my golden years would be covered in ash,” Tangeman said, “but they have been. My hope is that the trees will grow, that we’ll be able to sustain our irrigation system, that we’ll be able to sus- tain our ranching operation and move into the future.” Last week, the resilience of the Tangemans and other California farm- ing and ranching families who have operated continuously for 100 years or longer was celebrated at the California Agricultural Heritage Club’s annual breakfast and awards ceremony at the California State Fair. The club, which comprises descen- dants of some of California’s earliest agricultural businesses, was “created to acknowledge the families, business- es and special ag interests that have maintained a financial responsibility in California for more than a century,” said Judy Culbertson, chair of the California Agricultural Heritage Club and executive
director of the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. In 1948, a hundred years after James Marshall discovered gold in California, the state created the “100 Year Club” to honor the discovery’s anniversary. In 2001, the 100 Year Club became the California Agricultural Heritage Club, with a mission
See HERITAGE, Page 9
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August 2, 2023 Ag Alert 3
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