J.R. Organics, a 5th generation farm family, perfects its produce
Manny Topete and Stephen and Mike Clark of J.R. Organics at the Manhattan Beach Farmers Market. Photo Back in the mid-1980s, Joe Rodriguez Jr. asked his father for an acre of the family farm. He’d been applying pesticides to crops on the family’s 80 acres and it had made him feel sick. His idea was to try something different. Joe Jr. wanted to farm without chemicals. Joe Sr. was skeptical, but he acceded to his son’s wish. That one acre grew so successfully, that soon the entire farm, which is located in North San Diego County, was transformed. By 1986, only a year after organic farming certification became an official practice, the Rodriguez family farm was certified. Thus was born J.R. Organics. “Our grandpa was stubborn,” said Stephen Clark, who along with his brother Mike and cousin Manny bring J.R. Organics to the Manhattan Beach Farmers easy week. “But our uncle is a master farmer. And our grandpa really backs him up.” J.R. Organics’ produce is so strikingly different it’s attracted an almost a cult-like following at the Manhattan Beach Farmer’s Market. The market opens at noon every Tuesday, and if you want to buy Rodriguez farm spinach when it’s in season, you need to be…
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