Cardoza & Cardoza Farming Company

Cardoza and Cardoza Farming is a second generation organic raisin grape grower based south of Fresno, California. The company was founded by Dwayne Cardoza in the 1970s and grows for familiar brands such as Newman’s Own and Sunmaid. The company’s 400-acre vineyard did not begin as organic. In 1998, after weeks of illness followed the direct application of pesticides and herbicides, Cardoza and Cardoza Farming decided to go fully organic (well before the label was “cool”).

In 2016, son, Steven Cardoza joined the family farm full time. Father and son melded their skill sets, introducing regenerative agriculture to their organic farming practices. Dwayne Cardoza’s forethought and action on the organics front gave his son a head start and was a natural stepping-stone to implementing regenerative agriculture, which is the practice used in all its vineyards today.

The Challenge:
Imbalance and Infestation

In conventional farming, intensive tilling, also called conventional tilling (e.g., plowing, disking, et al.), is an essential and common part of some farming practices. Tilling is used to prepare seedbeds, suppress weeds, aerate soil, bury crop residue, level the soil and incorporate manure and fertilizer into the root zone among other things. However, intensive tilling involves repeatedly disturbing the earth with heavy machinery that fractures the soil, disrupting the structure, which can destabilize it and result in accelerated surface runoff, carbon release and soil erosion in addition to organic matter oxidization and disruption of the microorganisms in the soil, thereby reducing soil predators that would help make soil healthier by eating detrimental bacteria and fungi.

Excessive tillage (the practice of working soil when it's too wet or when it is tilled too frequently) can speed up the breakdown of soil organic matter, depleting the essential food source for beneficial soil microorganisms, thus, minimizing their numbers and reducing their capability to control pests such as spider mites. To make the land flat to accommodate sun drying the grapes, farmers will “disk” (a particularly intensive type of tilling); however, each time the soil is disked (especially with the sandy soil and 110 degree weather of southern California), it dusts out the vines. This increases the abiotic stress (the negative impact of non-living factors on the living organisms in a specific environment) and makes the vine more susceptible to spider mites and other pests that thrive in heat, dust and high ammonium levels. This was the case for Cardoza and Cardoza.

In 2018, the company had an intense challenge with spider mites. Of a 150-acre block, 130 acres had nearly 80% canopy loss (defoliation and dried up leaves) due to the severity of the infestation. With this challenge, Cardoza and Cardoza Farming recognized the need for change.

The Solution:
Working in Concert with Nature

Cardoza and Cardoza began experimenting with regenerative agriculture on 10 acres of their vineyard. The company worked with AEA (Advanced Ecological Agriculture; a regen ag solutions provider) and implemented sap analysis (monitoring the nutrients in plant sap to provide in-depth, actionable insights) and nutrient management in its regenerative farming practices. This significantly changed the way the company managed the land.

The first part of the circular process was to plant cover crops at the start of the dormant season to reduce vulnerability to wind and water erosion, suppress weeds, reduce soil compaction, increase moisture and nutrient content of soil, improve yield potential, attract pollinators, and provide habitat for beneficial insects and wildlife as well as serving as a food source for animals and supporting a symbiotic relationship with nature. Cover crops also play a vital role in capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and improving soil resilience to climate change. This creates a win-win scenario: reducing costs on inputs like water and fertilizer while helping crops thrive.

The company also allows native plants to grow between the rows to create plant diversity and different types of roots systems that help regulate soil moisture. Native plants can ensure percolation and increased filtration of nutrients entering the ground water and require no maintenance to grow. While they require some maintenance to prevent overgrowth, the benefits far outweigh the drawback.

Says Steven Cardoza, Owner of Cardoza and Cardoza Farming Company, “With regenerative agriculture—realizing that we don’t need to have such an intensive control approach, that you work with nature instead of trying to fight nature—you get much better results.”

Nutrient management is also key to Cardoza’s success. Through sap analysis, the precise nutrient requirements are determined. Sap analysis yields 23 data points that can indicate nutrient excesses and deficiencies in crops ahead of observable symptoms. This is performed once the leaves are fully formed and have reached peak photosynthesis, and the data used alongside existing agronomic data and grower observations provides a formula for optimal nutrition. The nutrient formula is then applied directly to the leaves via misting.

For Cardoza and Cardoza, low tillage (also called conservation tillage) means the ground is not disturbed throughout the growing season. Only once, just prior to harvest, are the rows between the vines tilled to flatten the ground to accommodate paper drying trays so the grapes can be harvested then placed directly on the paper in the row and dried naturally by the sun. The benefits of low till farming include soil health, erosion control, water retention, cost reduction, better crop yields, weather resistance and profitability.

The regen ag approach was multi-faceted for Cardoza and Cardoza Farming, who used various methods of testing and application. Given the success of the first 10 acres, they increased the regenerative agriculture space to 30 acres. Now the entirety of its 400-acre vineyard is farmed using this method, which has paid off significantly.

The Takeaway:
Implementing Change with Impressive Results

By reducing tillage, planting cover crops, allowing the natural growth of native plants and implementing sap analysis for nutrient management, in addition to other testing (i.e., soil moisture monitoring, etc.), Cardoza and Cardoza has created an environment that defends against pests by reducing harmful compounds such as ammonium that attract pests like spider mites and supports an environment that works with nature and is beneficial, rather than harmful, to the environment.

“Now there are birds, rabbits, squirrels, foxes and weasels, things that I've never seen there before. We’re creating a natural ecosystem by allowing nature to take its course and taking advantage of what nature is doing and trying to work with it—that’s really important. As humans, we think we know better than nature,” says Steven Cardoza, “but we don't.”

The company no longer uses pesticides or any other “-cides” that are applied solely as a line of defense but contribute nothing beneficial to the plant. This has eliminated an entire budget line of spending, for example $100 per acre for controlling spider mites that can now be shifted to nutrient management, which not only works to the benefit of plant health but also provides a better degree of resistance against pest pressures. And it gets better.

In its previous organic-only farming practices, Cardoza and Cardoza alternated between cycles of good years and bad years—which means good years and bad years of profitability. What profit was made in a good year would be lost the following year—that is, until they implemented regenerative agriculture.

Since the implementation of regen ag, the company has experienced record-breaking yields—each production year outproducing the last. More yields equal more profit—and with no increase in expenditures. This was a big win in profitability.

According to Steven Cardoza, “Step one to sustainability is profitability. Nothing matters if you're not profitable enough to keep your business operating…[and] human health is equally big for me. I think there's so much poison in our food system that any grower that’s able and willing to provide food for the population that is free from these components is really impactful to our communities and human health.”

Cardoza and Cardoza Farming has witnessed the cascading effect of regenerative agriculture firsthand—the animals have changed, the plants have changed, the quality of the fruit is better. Everything is better.

Cardoza estimates that if regen ag were adopted globally, those cascading benefits could be witnessed on a grand scale. By restoring carbon cycles back to their natural function, we could see returning river systems, increased annual precipitation and improvement in many other areas that have been adversely impacted over years of agriculture. Says Cardoza, “The soil would be healthier, the planet would be healthier and people would be healthier."

Those are big wins by any standards.