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History
of LaConda Ranch
La Conda Ranch
was established in 1950 bymy grandfather Ludington
Patton, who moved to Corning from Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. At that time, olives were definitely
a luxury item. The bigger the olive the better!
In 1955, my
father, Jim Patton, came to work on the farm,
while attending UC Davis. While at Davis, he
learned many new approaches to farming, including
innovations in flood irrigations. He enhanced
the natural drains into recycling the water,
in order to save water and cut costs. In 1961,
my parents, Jim and Barbara Patton, incorporated
La Conda Ranch. Jim then put his ideas into
action. He converted some orchards in the early
1970's to irrigate by hose-pull sprinkler, once
again to cut costs and increase peoduction.
In 1981, Jim died at the age of 46.
My name is Scott
Patton, and I was attending Purdue Universty
at the time. I returned, along with my new bride,
Lynda a fellow Purdue graduate, in order to
live on and work the farm. I had also learned
many new approaches to farming at Purdue, and
I put them to use. I further improved the irrigation
systems, planted undeveloped acerage in olives,
re-planted existing orchards, and further increased
production in order to stay competitive in a
world market. We now produce quality olives
for many companies. We produce olives for oil,
along with Spanish-style, Sicilian-style, Black
Ripe, and fresh market olives.
We take great
pride in managing the land wisely, being careful
not to overuse pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
We believe in natural and organic farming. We
are presently in the process of getting part
of the farm organically certified. Pheasant,
turkey, deer, coyotes, rabbits, raccoons, possums,
skunk, fox, and ground squirrels roan the property.
We have 7 duck and goose ponds that are used
to recycle water from the orchards. Quail have
nesting grounds in the blackberry bushes around
some of the orchards.
We currently
produce and pack the freshest olives in the
world/ The quality of our product is very important
to us. We are here to saticfy our customers.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
.....................................................................................................................Scott
Patton
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