A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® CALIFORNIA Trees & Vines ®
Mike Neuharth, left, and his father Tim represent the fifth and sixth generations of farming at Steamboat Acres in Sacramento County. The farm dates back to 1848. Some productive pear trees are 135 years old.
Delta pear farm continues to thrive after 175 years By Kevin Hecteman 1848 was quite the year in California history. Along the way, one of the generations made a decision that’s still bearing fruit—literally and figuratively—for Neuharth today.
“I don’t remember who decided it would be a good idea to plant pear trees, but they did,” Neuharth said. “Our pear orchards have been what’s been carrying our business. They’re what’s providing our bread and butter.” Keeping them through farming’s ups and downs, he added, “was the smart decision.” Also paying off is a decision his father, Tim, made about 20 years ago: converting the farm to organic production. “Getting that fresh market value out of the crop rather than the cannery crop has been quintessential in keeping our heads above water,” Neuharth said. Some of those pear trees have seen a day or two. Among Neuharth’s pear trees are some that were planted in about 1888. Yes, 1888. As in 135 years ago. “Lots of water, good pruning and just really paying attention, keeping after it all the time, keeping your pest problems down,” is how Neuharth described the work needed to keep these arboreal centenarians in production. And here’s the kicker: He may retire before the trees do. A while back, he said, he asked a
James Marshall found gold near a sawmill in Coloma, setting off the Gold Rush. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, transferred Alta California from Mexico to the U.S. And along the Sacramento River, south of the town that became the state capital six years later, the Peck and Bates families settled down to farm the rich, fertile soil. “They came out here for the Gold Rush,” said Mike Neuharth, the sixth generation to farm at Steamboat Acres, “and were like, ‘Well, guess what? There’s no gold out here, but we’re farmers where we’ve been from historically. Let’s just keep that going.’” Benjamin Bates and his wife, Jane, helped establish the farm along with their daughter, Mary Emma Bates Peck, and her husband, Archibald Jackson Peck. It lives on today, and the enduring pear farm was honored last year by the California Agricultural Heritage Club for its historic contributions to agriculture. (See related story on Page 3 on this year’s honorees.) The Sacramento River delta was a very different place 175 years ago. “When they first got here, there was nothing here,” Neuharth said. As to what the Pecks and their neighbors raised in the soil, “everyone was growing asparagus and sugar beets, and did that for a long, long time.”
See FARM, Page 8
August 2, 2023 Ag Alert 7
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