Behind an Advising Relationship
November 28th, 2022
[Read time: 10 minutes]
Sunshine Organics
Established In: 2016
Location: Watsonville
Acreage: 6
What they sell: Mixed organic fruits, vegetables, & flowers
When they began working with KTA: 2019
Advising focus: Market access & land access
An Early Morning
The Watsonville morning was covered in a thick blanket of fog, dew coating the rows of strawberries, blackberries, and flowers sprouting out of the ground of Sunshine Organics’ farm. The weather, however gloomy, did not affect co-owner Gladys Mondragon, a smile on her face as she waited with hot coffee and a selection of pan dulce. She greeted her Farm Business Advisor, Tania Zuñiga, with a warm hug at the start of their advising session. Tania and Gladys caught up walking the grounds of Gladys’ six-acre farm, one of the two parcels of land Gladys stewards, stopping to taste Sunshine's Albion strawberries. Despite it nearing the end of the season, the strawberries, a Sunshine Organics' specialty, were ripe and bursting with sweetness.
Passing by rows of berries, beans, vegetables, and flowers, Tania and Gladys swapped stories in both Spanish and English about their respective families, how Sunshine Organics was doing, and which of the pan dulce was their favorite.
Gladys
For Gladys, the work she does is core to who she is. Gladys is a second-generation farmer; raised by her parents Camilo and Carmen Mondragon, she grew up in the Pajaro Valley helping her family grow and sell berries. Her childhood, as she fondly recounts, was spent playing in her family’s fields, accompanying her parents to farmers markets, and picking fresh berries off the vine. As Gladys started college, she began to work for her parents part-time as a way to pay for her schooling, focusing on their organic certification and expansion into farmers markets. Eventually, she and her husband Ralphie decided to formally invest in the farm as a way to support their growing family while simultaneously honing their skills and experience in agriculture. In 2016, Gladys and Ralphie became the official owner-operators of the farm, renaming the operation “Sunshine Organics.” Gladys took over the managerial and operational aspects of the business while Ralphie handled most of the production. Despite the shift in ownership, Gladys’ parents are still supportive with many aspects of the farm – Camilo and Ralphie have grown particularly close with Ralphie looking to Camilo for guidance and knowledge as the farm continues to evolve.
To Gladys, farming is a symbiotic relationship where she provides for her community just as much as her community provides for her. With every product, she strives to grow the best quality crop to care for her local foodshed. Her instinct to nourish has always been a part of her – it is a legacy Gladys inherited and can share with her two children who spend their days, like she once did, tagging along to farmers markets and playing in the fields. Beyond her business, Gladys is motivated to not just nurture her family, raising her two children, but her community as a whole. In addition to farming, both Gladys and Ralphie work full-time jobs to support their community, with Gladys coaching soccer professionally and her husband acting as Vice Principal of Watsonville High School. Gladys holds these roles simultaneously and proudly, not expecting anything in return, but rather embodying her commitment to service of those around her.
Tania
Farm Business Advisor Tania Zuñiga has spent the past three years directly working with over 16 farmer clients in the Central Coast to help them secure capital, land, and market opportunities, grow community relationships, and engage in leadership opportunities. Her journey into agronomy started when she was a child; during the summers, she visited her great aunts in the Central Andes of Peru, her native country, where she would help them harvest potatoes. From there, she went on to study agronomy at university. Everything that Tania has achieved – working at the Agriculture and Land-based Training Association (ALBA), an organic farm in Pennsylvania, a 40-acre wholesale plant nursery operation, and a landscaping company – have led her to KTA.
Motivated by empathy, justice, and equity, Tania is fueled by her intrinsic connection to the land and communities around her; she views her wellbeing as being wholly dependent on the wellbeing of those she supports. In her work, she aims to uplift Latina communities and address the numerous social and environmental injustices that many small-scale farmers and farmworkers face.
Seeding a Relationship
The first time Tania and Gladys were connected was years before Gladys joined as a KTA client – in fact, it was years before Sunshine Organics began. As a farmers market vendor thirteen years ago, Tania spent her weekends selling at the Monterey farmers market. There, she met Camilo, Carmen, and Gladys selling their berries. Tania fondly recounts shopping with her daughter at the Mondragons’ stall, casually chatting with Carmen about her family’s business.
Eight years later, when Gladys came to KTA for support as a new business owner, Tania became her farm business advisor. At first, Gladys was hesitant to fully open up. However, as they began to meet more frequently, Tania was able to empathize and relate to Gladys as a woman, entrepreneur, and farmer. Gladys, in turn, grew comfortable relying on Tania for both personal and business advice. It wasn’t until a couple months in that the two women even realized their paths had crossed before. With the trust between them growing, they began to partner confidently. Over the past three years, the two have worked to expand Sunshine’s markets, secure land stability, and establish sustainable financial management and lifestyle practices.
KTA’s Business Advising Philosophy
Though KTA’s one-on-one advising is personalized to meet clients where their businesses, needs, and ambitions lie, our program is anchored in seven interrelated primary learning areas. These primary learning areas were developed in conjunction with our vision, values, and theory of change.
As each client enters our advising program at different points in their business journey, advisors will adapt their approach based on the needs and knowledge of the client within these learning areas. In walking alongside our client farmers and ranchers, we honor the many shapes and forms of success that they recognize for themselves, both within and outside of these learning areas.
KTA’s Primary Learning Areas
Business Planning: Training on business strategy and long-term planning
Financial Management: Developing financial skills, resources, and tools
Access to Markets: Strategizing a successful, diversified marketing strategy
Land Access & Tenure: Aiding with equitable access to affordable, secure land
Access to Capital: Building resources to invest in short and long term business operations
Organizational Management: Planning, managing, and optimizing daily business activities
Farm & Family: Balancing quality of life with business needs
Sunshine Organics’ Growth
Though her business had celebrated some major milestones prior to working with KTA like organic certification, Gladys was still looking to organize and strengthen Sunshine Organics while balancing the other parts of her full life.
Tania and Gladys started their work together by upgrading the business’ bookkeeping system to help track capital and comply with their organic certification requirements. Tania also supported Gladys as she began applying and selling at other farmers markets, hoping to expand Sunshine Organics’ only market stream. While Gladys, Ralphie, and her parents tested different market opportunities, Tania helped them foster new relationships, organize their farmers market schedule, and manage logistics.
Once Gladys honed Sunshine’s business operations, conversations with Tania turned to land conservation and ownership. Affordable, small-scale organic land parcels are incredibly scarce in the Central Coast, and, as Gladys transitioned from one parcel to the next, she continued to experience setbacks in her crop quality and her family’s stability. Her parents had initially purchased the land they had been farming in 2015, and though the purchase marked a huge milestone for their business, the process was complicated by high interest rates and mortgage payments. In 2021, Gladys, Ralphie, and Tania started organizing financial information and filling out applications with the intention of refinancing the property her parents purchased. Finally, in February 2022, Gladys and Ralphie were able to successfully refinance their house, using their leftover equity to pay off the mortgage on the land. This land purchase was transformational for Sunshine Organics; Gladys and Ralphie were finally able to invest in their long-term vision for soil health and biodiversity while also ensuring greater security for their business. More recently, Gladys and Ralphie have leased a secondary 20-acre parcel to be able to expand their production, a process Tania aided by connecting them with the Elkhorn Slough Land Trust.
Creating Space for Latina Leadership
For Tania and Gladys, no two advising sessions look the same. As Gladys juggles her roles as mother, coach, and farmer, she has met Tania everywhere from early in the morning in the field as she gets her day started to later at night surrounded by crying toddlers, running between Tania and her husband to get data and organize financial records.
The one-on-one advising sessions that Gladys and Tania have shared over the years represent the first time that Gladys has had any dedicated space for business planning. Creating this time and space for herself as a business owner, among the numerous other community roles she holds, has been an especially valuable part of Gladys’ growth as she continues to build confidence. Gladys also had a desire to work with other women business owners to whom she could relate and derive support. Thus, when KTA’s Women in Agriculture Group was assembled to bring together Latina entrepreneurs on the Central Coast, she jumped at the opportunity to connect with other Latina business owners committed to sustainable, small-scale agriculture. Through the group, she was able to contribute to and immerse herself in an empowering space dedicated to offering technical and emotional support for women like herself. Gladys was ultimately nominated as part of the steering committee for a new, permanent spin-off group called Red Solidaria de Mujeres en Agricultura, allowing her to continue nurturing the leadership and solidarity of both herself and her fellow women farmers.
Together, Gladys and Tania have worked to not only realize business goals, but to ensure that Gladys has enough space – as a woman, mother, coach, and community leader – to breathe and grow in each of her roles.
Growing in Community
By the time the advising session starts, the morning fog has burned off and the pan dulce has been eaten. Tania starts by reviewing administrative work before checking on Gladys’ land, market opportunities, and capital needs. Gladys brings up an issue she has been experiencing with accounting; Tania, in turn, offers several alternative tools and resources. With the end of the year coming up, they discuss 2023 financial projections and new hiring opportunities. They end the session by reviewing the new organic strategy Gladys has been experimenting with on her crops. The discussion is natural, a bouncing back and forth of ideas, suggestions, and opportunities.
Gladys and Tania’s multifaceted relationship is shaped by many points of connection – family ties from a farmers market, years of business advising, and, above all, a mutual recognition and support of each other as Latina women in agriculture. Their relationship has evolved over their time together, but remains grounded in trust, respect, and collaboration as Gladys navigates business ownership with Tania alongside her. This connection is not only shared between them; their stories, contributions, and community-building uplift and empower a broader community of Latina farmers leading and nourishing our local foodshed.
Shop With Sunshine Organics at These Farmers Markets
Monterey (Old Monterey Marketplace), Tues 4-8pm
Sacramento (central - currently at Arden Fair Mall), Sun 8am-12pm
San Francisco Ferry Plaza, Sat 8am-2pm
Stonestown, Sun 9am-1pm
Follow on Instagram
@dbasunshineorganic
Learn more
Red Solidaria de Mujeres en Agricultura
PC: Paige Green