In California’s San Joaquin Valley, third-generation melon farmer Joe Del Bosque has established a reputation for growing high-quality melons — melons that are now finding their way into retailers such as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, in addition to the farmer’s popular farm stand.
Through sustainable and organic growing practices, Del Bosque Farms delivers common and specialty melon varieties to a growing consumer base.
The farm originated in 1985, initially growing cantaloupes and later adding crops such as tomatoes, asparagus, almonds and cherries, Del Bosque says. He transitioned to organic farming around 2005 and now sells exclusively organic melons.
Del Bosque grew up with his father, a migrant worker, working in melons, and later had a job managing a farm.
“I grew up in that atmosphere,” he said. “So in 1985, it felt natural to start my own farm.
“Melons are my heritage,” he said.
While he originally started growing cantaloupes for other people as a contract grower, from there he branched to growing his own melons — and still does today. Along the way, Del Bosque said he changed harvests through trial and error.
“We added cotton for a while, which we don’t do anymore,” he said. “We added tomatoes for processing, and grew asparagus for a while, but that went to the wayside because of competition from Mexico. We later added almonds and a few cherries.”
Organic melons into retail
As commercial growers, the farm began switching to organic growing practices around 2005, Del Bosque says, adding that the farm has been entirely organic for the past three to four years. In 2019, the operation opened a farm stand where it sells not only the farm’s organic produce, but also local items from other farms, such as pomegranates, onions and garlic.
The grower ships commercially across the U.S., with Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s among its biggest customers, Del Bosque says. The relationship with Whole Foods Market was unanticipated.
“I was growing conventional melons when a neighbor called saying he had purchased land that he couldn’t use for a year,” Del Bosque said. “It was certified organic, he said, and asked if I’d like to farm it. I had never considered organic before, so I took the opportunity.
“I planted organic melons for the first time on land that was already certified. I just had to get myself certified and learn to grow organically,” he said. “Within weeks, I got a call from a field rep for Whole Foods who said he wanted to come out and see the farm. They looked at it and fell in love with our melons. They’ve been a great customer ever since.”
Commercially, the farm grows cantaloupes, honeydews and a specialty melon called galia, which Del Bosque says the farm started growing by accident.
“We were planting melons, and somehow some galia plants got in there,” he said. “We had about an acre of them. And what do we do with them? At that time, we didn’t have a farm stand, so I talked to our sales guy, and he says, ‘well, pack them up and we’ll sell them.’ And they did, and the market was receptive, so we decided to add it in the program.”
At the farm stand, consumers find about 10 different kinds of melons and six to eight different kinds of watermelons, Del Bosque says.
“We have a lot of fun there. We grow stuff that you don’t see in the stores anymore, and so my wife handles that, and we have a nephew who works there. He’s excellent at that,” he said. “I have a lot of work with the commercial farm, but when I get through in the morning, I’ll go spend an hour or two at the farm stand in the afternoon and mingle with the customers. It’s great feedback for me and also gives me an opportunity to educate the public a little bit about what we do.”
Del Bosque has found a lot of interest in old varieties of cantaloupes as well as some specialty cantaloupes.
“Melons like piel de sapo and crenshaw do well at the farm stand,” he said. “Customers will drive from the Bay Area, two hours away, to buy our melons. Others will drive from Los Angeles to visit the farm stand and buy our melons.”
His favorite melon?
“Oh, my personal favorite is still cantaloupe. A good cantaloupe is my favorite melon,” he said. “I can eat one every day and never get tired of them.”
Del Bosque says it’s the locale that makes his melons so flavorful.
“Our area is the best growing area for cantaloupes in the world. Here in the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, we have excellent soil, we have excellent climate for our cantaloupes,” he said. “And we can produce cantaloupes that are very good, and they can ship all over the country, and they hold up very well versus some areas that can grow cantaloupes, but their cantaloupes don’t ship as well as our cantaloupes here — and that’s because we have this dry climate. Cantaloupes like this dry climate.”
To provide a sweet melon, Del Bosque says he picks them a little riper for the consumer.
“We try to pick them a little riper so that they’ll have a little more flavor and color and that the consumer will like them enough to buy them again,” he said. “We just try to do the best we can in doing a good job of putting up a quality melon.
Del Bosque says the farm also has been fortunate to have a reliable workforce.
“We have crews that have been with us, some of them have been with us for more than 20 years because they have the skills,” he said. “They know how to do the job, and we don’t have to start off every year training new people, because that would be very difficult. Even though these people only work for us for three or three-and-a-half months, we want them to come back next year, and they do — and that is very, very important for us.”
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