Test PB Collection: FTE

Looking to the past to see the future sounds a little hackneyed, but still rings true in some situations. Once every ranch in Marin had a dairy, hogs, and grew grains and feedstocks. Some had row crops of considerable significance for Marin in those times.

The Marshall Ranch, now the Thornton Ranch in Tomales, was settled in 1852. All kinds of agriculture typical of the Tomales area were practiced on this ranch over the years: farming, grazing, dairying, and forage production including hundreds of acres of grain.

Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum), also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. It was widely cultivated in the ancient world, but is now a relict crop in mountainous regions of Europe and Asia.

Gary Thornton inspects a grain bundler used by his family, vintage 1915 (upper). Also on the site are an International Harvester combine, a CASE corn planter, and other grain producing relics (lower). Gary teaching his daughter Marissa how the family produced all its feed and grains.

More and more Californians are finding it difficult to feed their families.

This fall, UC Davis will launch a Bachelor of Science degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems.

Finding the right rotation Small grain production manual Agricultural Institute of Marin's Market Match UC Davis launches new degree in sustainable agriculture Around Marin County Notes from the editor Ag Commissioner Agricultural Institute of Marin Farm Bureau MALT Marin Organic Marin Resource Cons...

Grown in Marin News was a quarterly publication begun in 2002 to share information about Marin agriculture and the broader food system in our county. For 14 years, we spotlighted farm families and the many efforts by people on the ground to carry on Marins agricultural tradition.

Local agriculture in Marin receives assistance from numerous local agencies and organizations. Working in partnership, these collaborating organizations bring solutions to the obstacles that Marin's farmers and ranchers encounter.

We will miss Will Leib, Marin farmer and chicken expert who died recently. Will was a champion for sustaining agriculture in Marin and his rights to farm on the urban fringe in Novato. See "Something to Crow About" on Will in the May 2003 Grown in Marin issue.