JOSEPH JACKSON ON “DOING WHAT MATTERS” “YOU CAN TAKE THE FARMER OUT OF THE ORCHARD, BUT CAN’T TAKE THE ORCHARD OUT OF THE FARMER” By TAYLOR CHALSTROM | Assistant Editor
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arming has been practically inesend of the day, and that’s just not the capable for most of Joseph Jackson’s case with farming,” he added. “[In farmlife, and it’s become his livelihood. ing], you really do feel like what you’re Jackson, a part-time grower himself doing matters.” and account manager with Phytech, Jackson and his father have been in helped his father grow row crops and talks to form a partnership and lease or stone fruits for much of his childhood in buy a new tree nut orchard. He said that the Kettleman City area. It wasn’t until due to current regulations and comthe early 2000s when his father shifted mercial advancements, he and his father to farming almonds that he entered the have been more thoughtful throughout world of tree nuts. the planning process about where the “Like a lot of people in the [Central] orchard will be located and how it will Valley, he saw the great prices of albe managed. monds and pistachios and thought, ‘Hey, “[We want to] make a system where I gotta get in on that as well,’” Jackson we can keep farming for a long time,” said, noting however that it has been Jackson said. increasingly difficult to farm in the area Jackson puts great value on optimizin recent years. “Problems with available ing management practices and improvsurface water or prices of surface water ing on-farm sustainability, reasons why as well as really no access to groundwahe said he will never let go of farming. ter at all in our area meant that we kind “We’re also helping make positive change, of kept downsizing the operation, not whether it’s caring for a piece of land, just in changing crops but also in land taking care of the plants there, the soil sales.” there,” he said. “It’s just something really special.” Looking for the Long-Term When considering more sustainable Jackson said he became less engaged practices, Jackson is also thinking about in the family farm as it downsized, the next generation of growers. “I have citing the stress of regulatory challenges kids now, and with my love of ag, I want as a factor as well as the fact that his them to be able to experience agriculture current paychecks don’t entirely depend in the valley,” he said. “So, to do that, we on the weather. That being said, working need to be more thoughtful and more with growers every day in his position sustainable with how we’re farming so at Phytech has made him miss growing, that we can keep farming for generations and he’s been looking to reenter it in a to come.” larger capacity. “I miss [farming] enough to where Always Contributing I don’t think I could go much longer Jackson accrues most of his hours in without having any serious impact,” orchards through his commercial posiJackson said. “So, whether that’s buying tion, but he has also found other ways a small plot, 40, 50 acres, starting there to stay involved in the tree nut industry. and having a little something, almonds He is a graduate of the Almond Board and pistachios especially are what I’m of California’s (ABC) selective Almond interested in getting back into. Leadership Program, which “inspires “There are lots of jobs where you go in and prepares almond community memand feel like you’re clocking in, clocking bers to join a network of leaders meeting out and not really seeing anything at the the challenges of a changing industry,” 76
West Coast Nut
December 2021
Working with growers every day in his position at Phytech has made Joseph Jackson miss growing, and he’s been looking to re-enter it in a larger capacity (photo courtesy J. Jackson.)
according to ABC’s website. Additionally, Jackson sits on ABC’s Strategic Ag Innovations Committee where he and other members strategically decide where the almond industry needs to go with things like ag, environmental and food safety initiatives. At the time that Jackson applied for the Almond Leadership Program, he was still working as a grower full-time and was stuck in what he referred to as an “almond industry silo.” After graduating from the program, he had a clearer understanding of the scope of the industry and could see beyond his grower perspective. “We have all of these grower concerns on our minds, but when it comes to the almonds, we get them off the tree and kind of pat the trucks goodbye, and that’s kind of in a sense where the almonds stop with us,” Jackson said. “But, they go on a much longer journey, and that’s really what the [Almond] Leadership Program gives you… they actually take you to those places.” Jackson is referring to every step of the supply chain after almonds are trucked away from the orchards, such as huller-sheller facilities and shipping ports. Program members also get to hear from ABC about industry research into almonds’ nutritional benefits and global