Meet the Farmer
Dulce Organic Farm
Antonia Vega Gonzales and Juan Pulido
Established In 2018
Location Royal Oaks, CA
Acreage 23
What they sell Strawberries, blueberries, red mulberry, and peas
When they began working with KTA 2025
Advising Focus Capital access; market expansion and diversity
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Despite the many challenges that arise from working the land, Antonia Vega feels secure about one thing: her dedication to farming. Alongside her husband Juan Pulido, Antonia has turned decades of farming experience into a business that thrives on harvesting quality crops.
Growing up in San Juan del Rio, Oaxaca, Antonia was raised by parents who were farmers, and she started working alongside them as young as seven years old. In learning more about growing and harvesting produce, her focus shifted to how she could work independently. In 2018, Antonia and Juan enrolled in a course with El Pájaro Community Development Corporation (also known as El Pajáro CDC). The knowledge they gained there motivated them to officially start their own business, Dulce Organic Farms. Initially, they worked on 10 acres and grew mixed vegetables. But in 2019, they shifted their focus to strawberries, hoping to harvest the best quality products possible.
Antonia and Juan maintain a strong connection to the earth and use it to motivate themselves to reach new business milestones. In 2024, the couple reached their goal of owning land, acquiring 23 acres in Royal Oaks. They live about a 15-minute drive from the farm, where they currently grow strawberries, blueberries, red mulberry, and peas.
Where to Find
No direct to consumer options available at this time; Dulce Organic Farm sells exclusively through wholesale channels.
Advising Snapshot: 2025
Antonia and Juan have worked primarily with Farm Business Advisor Gerardo Fuentes, and have recently begun collaborating with Farm Business Advisor Gabriela Cotto Santos. Antonia says that she often discusses the farm’s production with Gerardo, sharing their production plans and business ideas for the season ahead. In addition, the couple has collaborated with Gerardo to find capital opportunities to support their business; for Antonia, working with KTA has helped make the complicated process of researching and applying a little less intimidating. KTA’s guidance is significant, she says, because farming comes with so many challenges they can’t control.
The couple hopes to sell through more direct-to-consumer channels in the near future. With help from Gabriela, as well as KTA Senior Farm Business Advisor Favio Ortiz, the couple will soon begin the Farmers Market Incubator program, co-launched by KTA, the Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM), and the Agriculture and Land-based Training Association (ALBA). The program is part of KTA’s Ecosystem Building work and is designed to support BIPOC, first-generation farmers who have lacked access to direct-to-consumer market streams.
