San Mateo County Farm Bureau building has a new name

Burns owns a ranch in Pescadero called Bianchi Flowers and was honored Aug. 22 in front of the coast community. Burns is one of four generations of his family that has been a part of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau. His grandfather helped found the bureau in 1952, with his aunt later serving on the board. His mother’s side of the family came in the 1800s and settled in Pescadero, while his father’s side came in 1929, with both sides farming. Born and raised on the coast, he has been a leader in agriculture and the community. He won the Farmer of the Year award in 1995 as part of the Mel Mello Farm Day Luncheon, which honors farmers with sound business practices and those involved in the coast farming community.

“We strongly believe in agriculture in the county,” Burns said. “It’s in our blood.”

Burns, 77, has two children, a son and a daughter, with his daughter joining him on the bureau board. His daughter lives on the ranch with him, running daily operations and leading the next generation.

“It makes me proud that the next generation is interested in continuing the ranch,” Burns said of his daughter. “It’s very important.”

Burns devotes most of his time to being president of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau, a nonprofit organization providing services to the farming community of San Mateo County. Its membership is comprised of a majority of all county farmers and ranchers, with activities focused on educating consumers, employees and farmers. It also offers scholarships, safety programs, school agriculture support and bilingual training materials for farms. His work focuses on helping sustain the farming community in Half Moon Bay and the county amidst ongoing challenges. Regulations, gas and labor costs, and a lack of places to sell crops make it harder for smaller growers, particularly as longtime larger growers leave.

He cited that the state requires farmers to track and report the number of gallons of water it uses. The county also has lots of open space with fewer people farming it, as many are getting older and fewer workers are available. Burns said there are fewer agriculture workers than the official estimates, estimating less than half of the official numbers, with many leaving to work in construction because the pay is better. He noted many workers couldn’t afford to stay due to high housing costs, while farmers couldn’t compete with the wages offered. Predators, diseases, pests, labor, housing and water problems remain constant.

“There’s a lot of stuff that people don’t see,” Burns said about farming. “It’s not just plowing the fields. You have a lot of bookwork that people don’t see. I just hope the younger generation has some good ideas and can work together.”

Burns and the bureau want to start a marketing center in Half Moon Bay for growers to distribute food to people in the Bay Area to ensure agriculture remains on the coast. He believes the young generation has a chance to increase crop innovation and new ideas, pointing to the fact that San Mateo County now grows wine grapes, which would have been unheard of a generation ago.

While there are divides between conventional and organic farmers on practices, Burns wants the agriculture community to unite amid challenging times. He noted farmers are always independent, but farmers need to unite to try new ideas and help each other to help San Mateo County agriculture.

“If we don’t do that, we are going to get picked off little by little,” Burns said.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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