Fatherhood and Farming: Local Farmers on Passing Down Traditions
June 19, 2026
Being a multigenerational farmer comes with important lessons shared by parents and grandparents, allowing them to learn firsthand the importance of local food, tending the land, and connecting with the community. For Father’s Day, we spoke to three local farmers about the lessons they’ve learned from their fathers and grandfathers and, for those who have children, the lessons they hope to pass down.
Blossom Bluff Orchards: Letting Kids Explore the Family Business
A fourth-generation farmer at Blossom Bluff Orchards in Fresno County, Bryce Loewen is the father of two sons, ten-year-old Archer and seven-year-old Jackson, who have taken an interest in the farm in their own unique ways.
“They both are real big fans of the equipment that we use. They’re November babies, so their first solid food was peaches,” Bryce says.
Last summer, for the first time, Archer joined Bryce at a farmers market in Fresno. “He loves it and we’re back doing that again now this season. He’s a natural. He likes being behind the stand, talking to customers, recommending fruit, and making change and everything,” Bryce says. “Jackson is a little more likely to ask if he can help me with stuff [on the farm] day to day, like when I’m checking on fruit or the irrigation system.”
Bryce’s great-grandparents started the farm, which was then taken over by his grandparents on his mother’s side. Bryce had some early experiences on the farm, but he was around 12 when his father, Ted, decided to get involved and eventually transition the orchards to organic. Their orchards diversified to include unique heirloom fruit varieties, and Ted and his mother, Fran, began selling their produce at local farmers markets
Bryce was a teenager when he started to support his family at the market. “That was the beginning of me falling in love with the farm and thinking of it as being more than just the place I’m living,” he shares.
Managing the farm involved the whole family, and Bryce found that he picked up important lessons from his upbringing. “The kind of unspoken lesson that I’ve picked up is that you shouldn’t measure your success by your bank account. You should really look at the kind of satisfaction that you are getting on a day- to- day basis from what you choose to do for work.”
When teaching kids to love the farmers market, Bryce insists that there are opportunities for parents to learn, too. “I was a little older going to the farmers markets, but I was still young. Even just observing kids at the farmers market, they love being there and there’s so much good stuff. They get to eat it and experience how much better the food is than what is available through most outlets.”
Find Blossom Bluff Orchards on Saturdays at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Sciabica’s California Olive Oil: Introducing the Next Generation to the Farmers Market
“You don’t want to miss all those special milestones, but you’re also growing and protecting a legacy business,” says Andrew Sciabica, Chief Financial Officer at Sciabica’s California Olive Oil in Modesto. Andrew is the fifth-generation of their family-owned business and is the father of 18-month-old Apollo. He finds that the most enjoyable way to balance his duties as a new father is to handle them alongside his business, including taking his son with him to farmers markets.
“When he was first born, I was working a market, and he actually came out with me and my partner, and it was really special for me to have him come to the market,” Andrew says. “Every Saturday that we are able to make it down to the Modesto farmers market, he gets a cookie now. And that was something I got as a kid. So it’s really fun being able to carry on those traditions as well.”
Andrew’s great grandfather, Joseph, led the family business for 75 out of its 90 years of operation. Growing up, Andrew spent a lot of time with him at the farmers market, too.
“Going to the farmers market for him was like going to Disneyland,” Andrew recalls. “He was one of the founding vendors [at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market] with my uncle. I remember getting to watch how they interact with people. It’s not just a sales experience. You’re actually building relationships with customers and getting to know them over the years, and I think that’s really special.”
“Something that’s been naturally passed down in my family is that food is kind of an expression of love. I think the best way to introduce some of that is to just experience it,” Andrew says. “I have a kid headed into toddlerhood. Picky eating can be very difficult and introducing new things can be met with resistance, but that shouldn’t shy somebody away from giving it a try, and from trying to make it fun as well.”
Find Sciabica’s California Olive Oil on Saturdays at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Brokaw Ranch Company: Carrying a Family Legacy
For many, Father’s Day is also a day where we remember a father or father figure that we’ve lost.
Will Brokaw of Brokaw Ranch Company continues the family’s legacy of providing intensively farmed avocados, specialty citrus, and subtropical tree fruit. His father, Hank, was an influential figure in the avocado industry who, along with his mother, Ellen, grew their business from a side hustle in their backyard to the large operation it is today.
“We are multi-generational farmers. My dad started his own business, but he came from an avocado family. In the 1930s, his father and his uncle were avocado nurserypersons,” Will shares. “There came a point, I think, for [my dad] earlier in his life, where the business took on a life of its own, and the motivation that he felt towards it was like a permanent furnace.”
Will describes his own path to farming as circuitous, saying that at first, he didn’t want to pursue that career path. “I started approaching the business like this maybe about a year and a half before he died. I think he would have been happy about that,” he says.
Where his father was more of an expert with botany, propagation, and biology, Will leans more toward the math and the business sense required to maintain a business at such a large scale as Brokaw Ranch Company. He describes himself as more savant, or specialized, and his father as more well-rounded. “I think my biggest relationship with my dad is from a business standpoint. I never really never really took to the agricultural part of it.”
Still, Will shares that the business has allowed him to work with great people across many aspects of our food system. “It’s just been a real gift for me. And I’m sure it was a gift for him, too,” Will says.
Find Brokaw Ranch Company on Saturdays at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and Mission Community Market on Thursdays.