Ten years ago Shane Tucker and his wife Marsha Baird made a major career and lifestyle change. They moved their young family from San Francisco to Davis and swapped their jobs behind desks to become farmers. The shift from office to farm wasn’t a rash decision as Shane had always known he wanted to farm. Even when he was working one of his first jobs in finance in Manhattan, he would spend one weekend every month farming a 160-acre orange orchard in Florida that he co-owned with a friend. Shane would work all weekend and fall asleep exhausted in the hay barn. He enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a hard day’s work.

It’s not hard to understand where Shane got his passion for farming. He grew up in a university town in Mississippi, that he says, was a lot like Davis. His father was a professor and the family lived on a 10-acre farm just outside of town. It was here that Shane and his brother learned to work. They raised sheep and pigs for 4-H and Shane recounts how he and his brother would wake up early before school to exercise their animals, even creating hurdles for the sheep to jump over to improve their muscle tone. In the winter months the sun wouldn’t even be up so they would go out with flashlights to run the sheep over hurdles.

Today, you won’t find any livestock on Shane and Marsha’s land. They opted to plant walnuts, almonds and row crops. Not long after they bought their farm, Shane spoke with the Yolo Land Trust about preserving land near UC Davis Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility. Shane says that it just made a lot of sense to put a conservation easement on the 200-acre plot. In conjunction with surrounding plots, more than 6oo acres is preserved for farmland forever.

The proceeds from the conservation easement allowed Shane and Marsha to develop their almond orchard. It is on this farm that they have set aside over an acre to grow food for the Yolo Foodbank. Their “Food Bank Farmers” plot was established in 2012 and, with help from local volunteers, everything harvested there is donated to the Yolo Foodbank. Over the years they have grown a number of different crops including carrots, beets, potatoes, butternut squash, melons, and a variety of fruit, and have worked with a diverse group of volunteers including members of local fraternities, Boy Scouts, Rotary clubs, schools, and churches. Yolo Land Trust staff, board members and supporters have volunteered their time over the years as well, helping with tasks from laying new drip irrigation lines to planting potatoes.  

When asked if they are happy with their decision to move to Yolo County and become farmers, Shane and Marsha agree that they are. It hasn’t come without challenges, but Shane says that he really enjoys the problem solving aspect of farming. And even though he may lose sleep worrying about the weather or something else out of his control, he looks forward to a future farming the fertile soils of Yolo County.

If you would like to volunteer with the Food Bank Farmers, email: volunteer@foodbankfarmers.org