Tyler Scriven is a CCOF Foundation Organic Transition Grantee.
Tyler Scriven grew up in the 1980s in Stockton, California. “It was the inner city, but I was lucky to have a reprieve in the form of my dad’s job,” he says. His father was the plant manager for Stagi & Scriven Sunflower Seeds, a business his uncle owned.
“I was able to see every aspect of the farm’s operations as a child,” Scriven recalls. “Walking through hundreds of acres of six-foot tall California jumbo sunflowers, as a three-and-a-half foot tall child, was awe inspiring. I was able to climb through underground augers, operate a forklift, and was able to see a crew of people working hard together to get the harvest in. That experience, coupled with my love of plants, was the symbiotic force that brought me to my career decision.”
Scriven’s uncle sold the farm after a few years. But the unique childhood glimpse into the natural world stayed with Scriven. “It was something I got to experience that most kids I went to school with did not,” he recalls. As an adult, Scriven’s career spans several gardening stores, serving an array of clients that included rice farmers, orchid producers, and retirees trying to win rose competitions. In 2007, he sold his business to work for a 10-acre farm in Loma Rica, California. There, he gained deeper experience in crop production.
In 2022, Scriven was approached by an experienced farmer offering an opportunity to apprentice and lease acreage on an organic farm. “I worked countless consecutive 14-18 hour days,” Scriven recalls, “processing thousands of 10 lb boxes of tomatoes and wholesale boxes of eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, okra, squash, cabbages, collard greens, dino kale, broccoli, and cauliflower. I did just under $200,000 in certified organic produce sales.”
Scriven now plans to transition more acreage to organic. He is set up with a robust client base that includes several wholesale markets as well as local stores and restaurants in Chico, California. The CCOF Foundation grant will allow him to expand his organic operation.
“This is not just a job. This is a lifestyle,” he says. “Becoming an organic farmer was an eventuality that needed to happen. I have seen firsthand how sustainable and regenerative organic practices can yield ongoing positive results. People who use artificial nutrients destroy microbes, fungus, and bacteria, therefore making nutrients in the soil unavailable. This makes them dependent on reapplying costly, synthetic nutrients.”
Instead, Scriven farms in a way that works with the land. “I truly believe organic food is the future,” he says. “If we are going to survive on a planet with nearly nine billion people, we are going to have to preserve and work with nature. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides have ruined our oceans, streams, and soil while simultaneously making vegetables aesthetically pleasing, but terrible to taste, therefore discouraging people from eating vegetables. With produce going halfway around the world, picked unripe and served up to the consumer with no thought of quality or flavor, it is no surprise that vegetables are becoming a thing of the past. It wasn’t until I was able to afford organic food and buy local produce that I got to experience the true flavor of some of these marvelous gifts. I was lucky. It saddens me that most people have not had the opportunity to enjoy truly ripe organic produce. I hope to change that.”
“Growing up in a food desert like Stockton, California, I always thought vegetables and most fruits were terribly bland and wondered why my ancestors ate them,” Scriven says. “One of my biggest joys of farming is to see people’s reaction to eating organically grown food for the first time.”
The CCOF Foundation is proud to support producers like Tyler Scriven with the Organic Transition grant, which provides three-year grants of $10,000 per year to farmers transitioning their land to organic production. Grantees receive multi-year funding and 1:1 organic technical assistance.
If you would like to contribute to the success of Organic Transition grantees like Tyler Scriven, please contact the CCOF Foundation’s Donor Relations Manager Shawna Rodgers at srodgers@ccof.org to learn more.
