Fedora farms builds for the future
Family operation partnering with Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust
Brian Fedora is a fifth-generation farmer and he wants to enable the sixth generation to run Fedora Farms.
Fedora, who operates the Meridian walnut growing and processing operation with his brother, Chris, and father, Sib, gave a tour to showcase a partnership with the Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust, which he says is helping to ensure the farm’s success.
“It’s helped a lot because they come out every year and check on our stewardship,” he said. “We’re working to keep the operation going while meeting more and more environmental and governmental regulations all while making a profit.”
Fedora said the partnership started back in 2006 and has been a success.
“We started working with them back when it was the Middle Mountain Foundation and it’s been great,” he said. “We grow mostly walnuts on the farm and for eight weeks out of the year, we have two
walnut hullers running for our walnuts as well as other growers so it’s a big capital investment.”
Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust executive director Alyssa Lindman said the organization has evolved over the years since its inception in the 1970s.
“The organization was originally created to allow public access into the Sutter Buttes through guided hikes and educational programs aimed at increasing public awareness of the uniqueness and value of the Sutter Buttes, while also seeking to protect them from development,” Lindman said. “Since that time, the organization has evolved into a land trust with a tri-county focus on protecting the agricultural and natural resources of the Sutter Buttes and surrounding region.”
More than a dozen people attended Monday’s tour of the Fedora Farms and learned about SBRLT’S efforts in helping to protect the area’s agricultural and natural resources.
“The land trust is working to create a stronger connection to the community through unique educational experiences on the land that allow attendees to better understand the goals and purpose of the land trust,” Lindman said.
She said the organization’s commitment to land conservation was further enhanced in 2015 when SBRLT was recognized as an accredited land trust through the Land Trust Alliance.
“Land trust accreditation is a mark of distinction, showing that a land trust meets high standards for land conservation,” she said. “The accreditation seal offers the assurance that we can keep the promise of protecting the land into perpetuity and that we are worthy of the public trust. Our accreditation has strengthened our organization and made us more sustainable.”
Lindman said future plans for the organization include the negotiation of several agriculture easements in Yuba and Sutter counties, totaling about 2,500 acres.
“In addition, the land trust is currently working on a 3-year strategic plan, which includes organizational and land conservation based goals,” she said. “We will be looking closely at financial security, board development, community relationships, as well as identifying conservation priorities.”
Sib Fedora is nearing retirement and remembers his childhood when the farm had a drastically different look and feel.
“I remember when I was 6 years old and it was still a dairy,” Sib Fedora said. “I never rode a horse for pleasure – they were for working and herding cows.”
By the time he turned 12, the family sold the dairy operation and continued to grow walnuts and adapt as the times changed.
“I graduated from Chico State in 1974 and started working in the production department at Food Machinery Corporation, traveling all over living out of a suitcase and took
over the farm in 1984,” he said. “I still worked at FMC until 1990 while running the farm because there was so much uncertainty.”
Fedora said the SBRLT partnership came together at a pivotal time in the family farm’s history.
“The conservation easement came about because our shop and huller is located in an area that was designated to be parceled out into 20-acre plots where ranchettes were to be built,” he said. “It was surveyed and ready to go but that’s when the economy crashed so the sales didn’t go through.”