DURST FARM TOUR 2026
We pulled up to Durst Organic Growers on a sunny Tuesday morning – temperature in the low 70s, blue skies all around, and their asparagus pack line already in full swing. Over the hum of the machinery, Jim began to explain the ins and outs of their operation. The asparagus fields need to be harvested daily with some urgency, ideally reaching stores within 30 hours; time is of the essence when it comes to freshness and flavor. The entire operation requires work by hand – from harvest to sorting, banding, and packing. Two conveyor belts brought the freshly harvested and rinsed spears down the pack line in piles, where workers sorted for size on one side of the belt, bunching and banding on the other. The crew worked quickly with practiced eyes and hands, before a machine made the final precision cuts for even packing. According to Jim, they make sure to leave a few extra inches of headspace in the box because the asparagus is still alive, and spears will continue to grow post harvest! The odds and ends made their way on a lower belt into a large receptacle to be used for compost. Over the years his team built the equipment themselves to perfectly suit their unique operation, which they have been honing since planting their first crowns in 1997.
Jim’s family has been on the land much longer than that, since the late 1800s. His great-grandfather moved from the Midwest out to California, eventually landing in Esparto to become a farmer. At that time, most farmers in the area produced livestock, grain, and other commodity crops. It wasn’t until Jim and his wife Deborah planted their first organic tomatoes in 1988 that the Durst name would begin a legacy in fresh market fruits and vegetables.
Farming is a vocation for Jim, and he has a moral imperative guiding his work – it’s about more than making a buck. He shared what he calls an “Ethic of Flavor,” asking us: “if it doesn’t taste good, then what’s the point?” Peak flavor is what keeps people coming back, and you can really only find joy from what’s in season locally! It’s a sentiment we wholeheartedly agree with at Earl’s. He also exudes an inspiring dedication to the value of farming in itself, and the way his work serves to steward our lands and communities.
Water resources across the many valleys of California are highly localized – Durst’s fields are located in a particularly water-rich area of the valley, but just over the next hill may be entirely different. There is currently a moratorium on digging new wells in their region to allow ground water to recharge, though Jim is skeptical how long that will last. “We can’t continue to take from the land more than we give” he told us, explaining how large corporate farms in the area seek to punch more wells into the ground to grow more almonds, depleting our aquifers faster than they can recharge. As such he is always considering how to be careful with water use. There is surface water available to them from Cache Creek and the neighboring Lake County, but they prefer to use ground water for asparagus (it’s much cleaner, and allows them to be precise with their drip tape). He had plenty more to share about his philosophy as we headed out into the fields.
They had just planted their tomatoes for the year (all field-grown), providing us with a beautiful view of tiny plants dotting the field with mountains on the horizon. Two wells would be enough to supply water for these 300 acres of tomatoes throughout the season, and besides spreading some vermicompost before planting, inputs are minimal. “Organic farming is about mimicking what nature has already done before us,” he said as we walked. Rather than using poisonous sprays on pests and weeds, they seek to keep things in balance by promoting soil health and natural predators. They’ll add water-soluble mineral fertilizers to the drip lines as the tomatoes grow: this serves to strengthen the plants and return some of the nitrogen and other essential elements to the soil that the tomatoes gobble up. Replacing nutrients used by the plants is key to maintaining soil health, much of which they do by working cover crops and other plant materials into the soil (such as the asparagus bits from their pack line) and occasionally spreading chicken manure and compost. All that care translates into the extremely delicious cherry tomatoes that we look forward to all year – according to Jim, “these tomatoes carry the spirit and flavor of our farm.”
You can find even more detail about their philosophy and farming practices on their website!
We have a while to wait for tomatoes (June, most likely!), but the spring produce was ready to savor. We spent a bit of time in their snap pea fields, which were about two weeks from harvest. Still, we were each able to find a couple of peas to munch on while he spoke. The biggest challenge for growing snap peas comes from thrips: the tiny insects commonly affecting many fruits and vegetables, who burrow into the baby pea and feed off the nutrients. While the damage from thrips are entirely visual (white streaks and scarring on the pea pods), we know that shoppers buy with their eyes. There is one organic product made from soil bacteria that combats thrip, but it is extremely expensive – it’s good to keep this hard work in mind when considering the cost of organic snap peas.
From there we moved to the prize jewel of spring: fields of asparagus! The aroma of green garlic filled the air from the neighboring field, and purple spears shot up from the ground as far as the eye could see. We had many questions and Jim was happy to oblige – he's very enthusiastic about their asparagus crop. “It’s one of the most sustainable vegetables you can grow,” he told us, explaining the life cycle of the plant. After they plant the crowns, it can take a couple of years to develop strong, deep root systems capable of producing a full crop – and they will continue to produce for up to ten years! The water use is fairly minimal and precise, managed with drip tape buried in the beds.
Each spring before harvest they mow the fields, and once the plants start producing heavily, they harvest every single day. Asparagus spears push out of the soil at a rapid rate, growing three inches or more a day in the heat. It takes two people a full day to harvest 1-2 acres of asparagus, using a specific tool that cuts under the soil. After a few months production will begin to slow, and the tips will start to spread. Jim said it’s usually clear when to call it for the season, at which point they let the plants go to fern. Asparagus functions as its own cover crop, collecting sun and storing sugars in the crowns over the summer and fall. By November the ferns will turn yellow, and Durst will chop the hefty plants to work them into the soil, adding compost as needed, and letting the fields sit until the next spring. A true seasonal crop!
On the way back to the packing shed, we learned more about the other happenings at Durst. Besides their land stewardship and the produce destined for your retail shelves, they have about seven acres dedicated to growing vegetables for the local food bank. They’re also a key partner dedicated to getting organic produce into California school districts. Beyond asparagus and snap peas, we look forward to supplying loads of watermelons to kids all over the state this summer, with the help Durst!
Jim and his team were extremely generous with their time and their knowledge, sharing a wealth of interesting facts and profound insights throughout the tour. Durst is one of the very last growers of California Asparagus on a marketable scale, and we are beyond grateful for their partnership.