John C. Moore III wasn’t always so sure he wanted to end up back on the family farm. When he was going to school at Texas Christian University, he investigated different career paths, but in the end the pull of the place his family has worked for nearly 100 years was too strong.
“When you’ve got a place that’s turned into a tradition as much as a place,” says Moore, “it’s not even a company feel anymore. It’s a great place to be.”
A Longstanding Tradition
It’s hard to argue with the statement that Moore Farms in Arvin, Calif., some 20 miles southwest of Bakersfield, is a tradition as much as a company. In the early 1920s John Chessher Moore moved from Los Angeles and began growing potatoes, cotton and forage crops. In 1955 the Moore family, then led by John’s son David, bought the packing and shipping facilities of Tejon Potato Company and renamed it White Wolf Potato Company, after the nearby White Wolf Fault. Today White Wolf Potato ships several varieties from multiple local farms to buyers such as Pik-Nik (a producer of shoestring potatoes), Frost Sales (which provides fry potatoes to burger joints along the West Coast), and Frito-Lay.
David’s son John II is currently the CEO of Moore Farms and White Wolf Potato, with his son John III serving as farm manager. John III and his sister, Julia Green, represent the fourth generation of Moores on the same piece of land. The ranch, as the entire Moore operation is known, has grown over the decades to now include 960 acres of potatoes, cotton, oranges, walnuts and pistachios, with 500 to 600 acres dedicated each year solely to potatoes.
Chipping Away
Moore Farms potatoes are all chipper varieties, with the majority going to Frito-Lay. While they have an established business relationship with Frito-Lay and their other buyers, the Moores feel it necessary to their business to have a contract for every acre of potatoes they put in the ground.
“I’m biased, but I feel as if the quality of potato we grow in southern California is as good a potato as any,” says John III. “We’re fighting costs and trying to keep up with guys in Idaho and other areas who can now grow a potato that’s the same quality. So for us, fighting the market and doing that without a contract is a risk that’s too great. You can win big but you can lose big also. For our operation and our size and the way we run things, those contracts work great.”
Dry Run
One of the primary reasons growing potatoes is such a risk for Moore Farms is that the average annual rainfall in the San Joaquin Valley is a meager 6½ inches. With drought hitting California hard the last few years, the potato game has gotten even tougher.
“We have to depend on a surface water supply that’s readily available, that’s good quality,” says Moore. “We’re in a drought right now, so that surface supply is hard to find.
“You can’t pick and choose your crops like you can when there’s more water; you’ve got to be very conservative and understand that yes, you can grow the crop, but you may not have the water. In some ways it’s a good thing; it makes people more conscious of how they use their water and what a crop really needs to grow.”
Another challenge of growing in southern California is, predictably, the sometimes oppressive summertime heat, which can be particularly hard on a crop like potatoes. Moore Farms’ planting season runs from December through February, and harvest is usually done by mid-July. “If you’re to grow a decent crop around here, you want to grow them during the spring and get them out by mid-July or else you’re going to have some problems,” says Moore.
Worthy Cause
Ever since John Chessher Moore started farming nearly a century ago, the Moore family has tried to stay active in industry organizations. All four generations have held positions on the boards of organizations that include Farm Bureau, the Western Growers Association, California Ag Leadership, and the National Potato Research Board.
“We try to stay as active as we possible can,” says John III. “We’ve got the mentality of, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
“Agriculture’s story is being written by people who don’t understand it and who want to demonize it,” he continues. “My dad and guys his age talk about how when they were younger, people were excited about farming and about being farmers; they were feeding the world. Now we’re getting shot down. People don’t understand that this is our livelihood. There’s nothing more that we want than to conserve and sustain what we’ve built our families and our lives upon. So it’s going to take younger guys being a part of the conversation, being a loud voice.”
In the end, John III says that’s the legacy the Moores are trying to leave: a reputation of not simply looking out for No. 1, but of leaving the industry as a whole better for their part in it.
“My dad has made a point of being an extremely honest businessman,” he says. “We want to always be conscious of not only what’s going to be right for our business, but what’s going to be right for the ag industry as a whole. That’s something I’m really proud of: that we take into consideration not just the personal success of Moore Farms or White Wolf Potato Company, but where our entire industry is concerned, being conscious of what’s best and what we can do.”