Bruins Farms
5025 Sweeney Road
Winters, CA 95614
Telephone: (916) 678-2004
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Tomato Frenzy
Bruins Farms can be counted on to be the first grower of the season at the Saturday San
Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market to offer locally grown, juicy, vine-ripened
tomatoes. This year they made their seasonal debut at the Market on April 13 and will be
there until the end of August. After a long winter without tasty vine-ripened tomatoes,
customers line up 8-10 deep patiently waiting to bag a few pounds of these early red
beauties.
The Bruins Brothers Become Tomato Farmers
The Bruins brothers, Paul and Bart, grew up in Holland's "sea of
glass", an area south of the Hague with the world's largest acreage of greenhouse
farms run by many small individual growers. In the 1960's, the Bruins family moved to
California and both Paul and Bart earned degrees from the University of California, Paul
in chemistry and Bart in plant genetics. Paul headed off for a job in the Department of
Chemistry at U.C. Davis and Bart went to work at Plant Genetics, a Davis area genetics
firm, as a plant breeder. Finding the area particularly suited to growing tomatoes in
greenhouses that they remembered from their childhood in Holland, the Bruins brothers
found a used 5,000 sq. ft. greenhouse, dismantled it and moved it to Winters in 1974 in
their first attempt to grow high quality gourmet tomatoes indoors. They pursued their
passion for raising high quality tomatoes on a part-time basis for more than 10 years,
selling their harvest at local farmers' markets in the Davis area, fruitstands and
high-end grocery stores. But by 1984, the demand for their tomatoes had become so intense
that Bart decided to give up his job and to concentrate on growing tomatoes as a full-time
business with Paul and Eva (Paul's wife) as partners. They have now expanded to a 150,000
sq. foot greenhouse, but demand still far outstrips supply.
| Niche Market Farming in greenhouses allows the Bruins to have vine-ripened tomatoes for sale from mid-March through the end of August. The constant spring-like conditions in their greenhouses enables them to raise the tasty beefsteak variety which is otherwise difficult to grow in California's hot Central Valley. As their harvest is tapering off in mid to late summer, other vendors at the Market begin to bring in their field-ripened tomatoes. So Bruins Farm fits a perfect niche and tries to fill a seemingly endless appetite that the Market's customers have for a good-tasting, early-season tomato. |
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Mainly Beefsteaks and Techniques
Most of the 25,000 tomato plants cultivated each season in the Bruins
Farms greenhouses are beefsteak varieties, selected for their superior flavor and texture.
By carefully controlling all growing conditions -- such as watering, fertilizing, and
night time and day time temperatures, while taking advantage of the ample sunshine in
California, the Bruins are raising some of the tastiest tomatoes in the Bay Area. An
important part of their marketing success is growing tomatoes without pesticides and
practicing biological control of all major tomato pests. Another secret the Bruins are
willing to share about their success in raising of tasty beefsteaks is the ample use of
redwood compost.
Eva -- The Bruins Brothers' Marketer
Eva is a full-time market representative for Bruins Farms tomatoes. Paul
and Bart credit the success of Bruins Farms to her marketing skills and rapport with
customers. She can be found at one of the farmers' markets around the Bay Area every day
of the week where she sells about 75% of the Bruins Farms' harvest. The balance is sold to
specialty stores and restaurants. During the hectic months of June and July, all members
of the Bruins family help out, including Eva and Paul's 3 college-age children who are
eager to pitch in with the selling to earn some of their college expenses.
June 1996
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