Yubakami is responsible for the quality of the produce it pulls into the local food system. It does this by knowing the practices and ethics of each farmer it works with; by actually spending time on each farm; and by encouraging farmers (including, where possible, with resources) to constantly deepen their regenerative practices.
Local. Organic. Regenerative. Climate-Smart. We are painfully aware of how corrupted these terms have become, so we will offer our personal definitions below. See the “Not-Good-Enough” tab if you’d like to see how our federal government views them.
Local means close enough for everyone to feel responsible: the farmer won’t pollute the stream that runs behind her neighbor’s house; the retailer won’t beat the guy up the hill down on the price of his beets and then mark up that price to the customer; the customer feels a stake in keeping his local growers and markets viable.
Organic means you nourish the soil and surrounding ecosystem, and trust that your crops will nourish themselves; that a balanced subterranean world of microbes and worms will feed the crop, while the crop shares the glucose it produces from photosynthesis with the subterranean world.
Regenerative means that you take responsibility for encouraging the land to become more balanced, more diverse and more vibrant each passing year. And that you do what you can for land and waterways adjacent to yours, to help them also heal from the abuse of others and return to vibrancy.
“Climate-smart” is the result of organic and regenerative efforts, with the result of increased carbon sequestration and cleaner air and water.
These are some of the farmers in Yuba County who have earned, and continue to earn, the application of these terms:
Nalee Xiong and family
Tom Lor and family
James Thao and family
Each was raised in internment camps in Thailand after losing their Laotian mountain homeland — and most of their relatives — in the aftermath of the Vietnam war.
