Green Thumb Farms

**What they sell:** Mixed organic vegetables & Strawberries
**Where they sell:** Foodwise Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market (Tuesday & Saturday, SF)
Heart of The City Farmers’ Market (Wednesday & Sunday, SF)
North Berkeley Farmers' Market (Thursday, Berkeley)
CSA Delivery (pickup at farmers’ markets & delivery throughout Monterey County & the Bay Area)
Home Delivery

Rudy Jimenez grew up in the farming community of East Salinas, the child of a farmworker; his father, Rodolfo, migrated to the US at the age of 15 and spent the next few decades working for conventional growers in the valley. Rudy was inspired to launch Green Thumb Farms by his father’s experiences as a farmworker and a childhood spent in one of the most bountiful yet food insecure communities in the US. His mission is to educate eaters in Salinas and across the Bay Area about where their food comes from, and above all to help youth in his hometown see career paths for themselves within agriculture through partnerships with local nonprofits like Urban Arts Collaborative.

Rudy joined Kitchen Table Advisors in 2016, as a recent graduate from the Farmer Education Program (PEPA) at Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association (ALBA). His goal upon joining the advising program was to secure new farmland, and hire the farm’s first employees to support his father with production and help him at the farmers’ markets.

Advising Snapshot: 2019

When they began working with KTA: 2019

Advising Focus: Land access; thought partnership; emergency planning & funding

Business Goals: Expand sales production and increase acreage

Farm business advisors Tania Zuñiga and Deborah Nares supported Rudy Jimenez in securing new farmland following his graduation from the PEPA program. Working with a land owner and California FarmLink to negotiate lease terms, Rudy was able to find shared acreage with two other farmers in San Juan Bautista. After getting his operation up and running, he eventually hired six employees to both support him at farmers markets and his father in managing production. Throughout his journey, Rudy has valued having KTA as a continued support system and thought partner. Given the growth of the past year, Green Thumb is now poised to expand production by finding a new parcel with more acreage.

Meet the Farmer