Episode #63: Cannon Michael

Hi friends, this is John and this is the Regenerative Agriculture podcast where we talk about the agronomic science and cultural management practices that regenerate plant health, soil health, and of course, ultimately public health, as well as ecosystem health. My guest for this episode is Canon Michael, who is a sixth generation farmer from California, which is arguably one of the most intensive production regions of agricultural productions around the globe. So, Canon, thank you very much for joining us and for being willing to share your wisdom and insights. I'd love to hear about your story and background. What is the context of agricultural production and your farming operation in California and the context of your interest in new innovations and looking at agriculture differently for the future.

Yeah, thanks John, and thanks for having me. And I really appreciate all that you do educating and your podcast and all the information that you've got out there is really helpful for furthering the discussion. I think you're doing a great job and it's much appreciated for me personally, like you said, sixth generation family farm here in the Central Valley might be just a little different than kind of how some families have had a history just in terms of not all of us have grown up on the farm. It sort of, it stemmed from my third great grandfather coming over in the 1850s and got into cattle raising and kind of a vertically integrated cattle model that he really did amazingly well. It's a kind of, you know, American dream type story really, and was a real innovator. That being said, he was a very type a person who kind of kept things close to the vest and like to have people, even family bothering him about it. And so his offspring got the benefits of a successful business but weren't really kind of nurtured in the sense that people think of maybe where, you know, you grow up on the farm and you live the whole, you know, the kind of bucolic overalls and lifestyle. So again, I think people have that conception of what every, you know, every farm is fairly similar as you and I know. There can be vast differences. So for us, just also through a chain of events, the farm sort of fragmented in the 1960s between two family groups that were kind of dividing. So some people came into agriculture kind of like almost later just in terms of having to run a business that sort of went through some turmoil in terms of family changes. So it does to me also indicate how important succession planning for agriculture, agriculture is and how, you know, if you want to be a successful long term family business, you've got to plan for, you know, next generations to be involved and so that's something my ancestor didn't do well. He did a lot of things well. He didn't do that well. And so we kind of paid the price for that. So anyway, to get fast forward, I grew up in the Bay Area. I actually grew up in San Francisco proper. So the trips that I took with my grandfather to the farm were just this kind of amazing wonder, you know, wondrous place where you had a lot of freedom. And so I always had a really strong affinity for it and attachment to it. But again, the family was used to sort of having managers run the operation with oversight from family, versus like the family member being all the time on the farm. And so when I was going through college and things I just didn't have, there wasn't a spot for me really going to be on the farm. So I got into commercial real estate, started a whole different career. But then again, through some changes, it was decided that I could come back and help when, when one of the relatives got got sick, who was, who was taking care of the farm. So I came in 1998 after being away for a while and then decided to live full time on the farm. So I've raised my sons on the farm and have again, sort of kind of maybe re established a little more of a connection from a family standpoint. But California, like you alluded to, is a very rigorous business climate for everybody in terms of regulation and cost of production and those types of things. So, you know, when I first got to the farm, we were just growing three primary crops which were cotton, barley and alfalfa. Those are, you know, sort of these like bulk type crops that don't have much specialization really. So over time we've, you know, really changed. In the last, really last decade, last, you know, 15 years, has been accelerated, a change to multiple different crops to organic and conventional farming methods. We're mainly a vegetable crop farm now. We do still grow some extra long staple cotton, which is a specialized niche cotton. But then we do, you know, mostly processing tomatoes and fresh tomatoes, watermelons, garlic, onions, carrots, herbs like basil, cilantro, oregano, and again, organic and conventional sides of that. Farmers are really stewards. No matter where you are, you're sort of a steward of resources all the time. And so for us, like the water, California, because of the climate, we're 100% irrigated agriculture, not, not really reliant on any rainfall. Water is an input that we pay, you know, the money we pay funds the water district, you know, so water is an input any Input that we have, you know, it's a cost. And so we, we just have always. You don't want to use more of anything than you have to. And I think sometimes people don't give farmers the credit for, for some of that. And I know there's some agricultural practices where people maybe aren't as informed or, you know, have a lower cost structure. But you know, for us it's just one of those things like we don't have to spray something. We don't. If overusing water doesn't help a crop, it actually hurts your crop. We're trying to tailor every single input to be as exact as possible. So I've always had an interest in the technology side, you know, looking at satellite imagery, variable rate applications, those types of things. And so, you know, I think the next big frontier is kind of where you're been centered in, which is, you know, these regenerative techniques and how to improve soil health and those things. And that's not to say that we haven't been doing that, you know, I guess, you know, we've been farming this same piece of land. Some of the land was sold as the farm got divided, but we've been farming this exact piece of land for over 160 years. So I guess when I hear people saying, you know, like we're going to teach you about how to be sustainable and how to be around, I kind of laugh a little bit. But not that we can't learn more. Like I'm always open to learning more. Again, like we'll get into some more of the details, but I'll, I'll stop there. I'll keep going on forever. So. But anyway, can you give us some.

Context on the scope and scale of your farming operation in the region? We talk about California, but California is a significant geographic area. Which part of California are you in and what's the general scope of your operation? Just to offer some context for the farmers who are listening.

Absolutely. And context, especially in the regenerative discussion, I think is really important. So we are located really, if you took a pin and put it kind of right in the center of the Central Valley of California, we are kind of in that area. We're in what they would call the Central Valley, which is comprised of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. We're in the San Joaquin Valley, which would be just an indicator of the river system that is kind of the largest going through this area. The little town that is nearest is a town called Los Banos. We're about two and a half Hours south of San Francisco and about four hours north of la. Yeah, sort of small. Small town. Not many people would know it, but sort of west side of the. Of the valley, we farm about 11,000 acres. Again, it's all irrigated. The farming company owns about 4,000 acres, and then we lease from others about 7,000 of those acres. So also something that people need to take into consideration is, you know, the practices that you would do on a. On a lease piece of ground might be different. You know, depending on the timing of your lease and how much control you think you have over that piece of ground, you may not implement certain practices. So that's kind of another nuance that I don't think people maybe talk about when they're talking about what farmers should be doing or transitioning or kind of doing. So a lot of us do lease ground and have that kind of relationship. Some. Some is family lease ground, some is from institutional investors that have come into the area. So, yeah, so again, mostly irrigated or all irrigated. 70% of the ground has drip irrigation infrastructure installed. We have solar systems in place to offset the cost of the electricity that we use. Then we also manage 650 acres of wetland habitat. We sit in a really interesting ecological area which we're adjacent to the second largest contiguous wetlands in the United States, which is the Grasslands Wildlife Management Area. So really a really diverse ecosystem, really a crucial piece of the Pacific Flyway for the migrating, migrating birds. And we, again, like I said, we maintain our own 650 acres of wetland habitat and have a number of different riparian corridors that we've restored throughout the farm as well. So which leads to complexities with food safety as we've transitioned to crops that have a food safety component. I think that's another thing people don't think about is people say we want biodiversity and all these things, but then as you get into the complexities of food safety audits and, you know, the concerns of large retailers, some of them are maybe unfounded in terms of the intensity that we're in, the scrutiny that we're put under. But again, having the biodiversity in some instances can be a real hindrance for us anyway, a unique spot to be farming and proud that we can continue the tradition that got started a long time ago.

That does sound like an interesting geological context or ecological context you alluded to in your background description of the intense regulatory environment that you find yourself in farming in California. I've had this interesting observation where when we look at innovations in the agricultural space, innovations in the areas of technology or just general acceptance or embracing new ideas and new technologies. I see the embracing of new technologies and new ideas coming from people who are kind of at the opposite ends of the spectrum. One end of the spectrum. You have, let's say, a country such as Australia, which has minimal farm supports, you could even say, in some cases, almost no farm supports. And as a result of this very open regulatory environment and very little support from a subsidy perspective or insurance perspective, there is very intense innovation and adoption of new innovations. And on the other hand, you have an environment where, such as California, with intense regulatory scrutiny. And yet it seems, and of course, I'm using a very broad brushstroke, everyone is an individual, but it seems that California producers in general tend to be more innovative than they are in other parts of North America. Do you have any thoughts or insights as to if that. First of all, if that is actually the case from your perspective and what might lead to that?

You know, like I said in the beginning, I think that with the, with the pressures on our costs, you know, because California really wants to be the leader in, you know, workers rights and protections, all things that are good, and environmental rights and protections, but it's just difficult. We get put in a difficult spot for.