Award Honorees

The Organic Farmer of the Year Leadership Award honors individuals who have significantly contributed to supporting and advancing organic agriculture and trade at the farm level. Receiving that honor this year is Larry Santos, Senior Farm Manager for Taylor Farming, grower and supplier of vegetables to Taylor Farms and Earthbound Farm (owned by Taylor Farms). Santos successfully oversees 3,000 organic acres, working with four experienced organic farm managers to produce more than 30 different vegetable and high-quality tender leaf crops in the Salinas Valley.   

Santos’s deep farming roots date back to when he was a young teenager in South Monterey County of California, and his involvement in organic farming to 1995 when organic was still a trendy niche and organic farming a relatively unknown practice. Santos was in his early 20s and working on a piece of land in the Salinas Valley that had not been farmed for 15 years; he encouraged his boss to give this “new, experimental” growing method a try, and the farm was transitioned to certified organic by 1998. What started as 200 acres is now a bountiful 600-acre organic farm and one of the most productive organic farms in the Valley. Santos still manages that farm, planting three crop rotations per year and producing 1,800 organic crop acres a year from the 600 acres. Santos also helps educate the local school kids on how to grow healthy organic vegetables; he works with his community's elementary school in an after-school program in which 14 students are each tending their own organic garden box and growing organic spinach, broccoli, radishes and more.   

“Trust and integrity are crucial to the success of organic. We’re only using this earth for a little while, so we want to make sure it’s there for the next generation,” says Santos. “Organic is the safest thing for our planet today and a way to give back. We have to give back to our soil to protect it for our children and their children's children. Plus, organic is the tastiest produce you can buy!”   

Santos is optimistic about organic: “I see more non-organic farmers adopting more organic methods, and I see a really big demand for organic with future generations. I believe as people get more educated about environmental issues and organic's benefits, there will be more pressure for organic."