Rico Farms

Location:

La Costa de Hermosillo, Mexico

Certification(s):

Bioagricert

A family farm, Rico Farms is run by the Tapia family. Francisco Tapia, Sr., is an engineer by trade, and his son Francisco Tapia, Jr., has been educated stateside where he gained a degree in Industrial Process and Systems Engineering. That's a lot of technical savvy for a farming family. Francisco is pictured here with Edith.

The farm is situated inland from the Sea of Cortez near Hermosillo. The Tapia family's lands cover over 4,000 acres and more than 90% of this land has been set aside as a wildlife preserve. The production area is surrounded by this wilderness on three sides, which reduces the chance of pests or diseases affecting crops- great natural protection for an organic farm!

Francisco Sr. began farming organically 30 years ago, starting with grapes, and then expanding to other crops including many types of squash, both summer and winter varieties, and melons too.

PDF:

Rico Farms Grower Info Card.pdf

Crops:

Acorn Squash, Cucumbers, Delicata Squash, Butternut squash, Galia Melons, Honeydew melons, Kabocha squash, Sangria watermelon, Spaghetti Squash, watermelons, Zucchini

Our Growers Are Our Heroes

We got into this business because we wanted to help small scale organic farmers here at home gain access to the larger commercial marketplace, and to ensure their families and communities thrive. Over the past decade or so, we have endeavored to do this, step by step, with over ninety B.C. farms.

Our hearts still belong to the small scale growers. We have visited dozens of farms in B.C., working with growers to see them move to larger and more financially sustainable operations.

We feel encouraged by the impressive increase in consumer demand for organics and local. We also acknowledge that we might not be able to grow all our own food year round. Even more so now, as our climate changes, no harvest is a safe bet.

So over the years, we have extended our relationships with small scale farmers to include farms down the Pacific Coast, through Washington, Oregon and California, then on to Mexico and South America. Together, this network of growers keep us all fed year round. And for this we are grateful.