As Homegrown Organic Farms celebrates 25 years, the company is reflecting on its dynamic growth and enduring mission.

Homegrown Organic Farms began “out of necessity” at a time when the organic industry did not yet have a robust marketing infrastructure, said Scott Mabs, Homegrown's CEO.

Scott Mabs, CEO, Homegrown Organic Farms

According to the Homegrown website, founders John and Cindy France were “in the first wave of citrus growers in California to go organic” in 1989. As organic pioneers, the Frances struggled to find marketers for their organic fruit, Mabs said. 

“[The Frances] knew they had to get their product into the marketplace. They hired their own salespeople,” said Mabs. Ten years after adopting the organic growing method on their family farm, the Frances launched Homegrown.

For the company’s first decade, Homegrown provided a wide array of professional marketing services to fellow organic growers.

“Homegrown began by helping people who were in a similar situation of struggling to find people who cared about what they were doing and who wanted to treat them fairly,” said Mabs.

John and Cindy France, Founders, Homegrown Organic Farms

Mabs, who has worked for Homegrown for 16 years, said Homegrown embraced the full spectrum of organic commodities early on. 

“We used to do anything and everything—leafy greens, mushrooms,” Mabs said. “Back when organic was very small, whatever came along that needed to be marketed, we would market it. We’re building relationships of trust between growers, their marketer, and their customers.”

“Homegrown began by helping people who were in a similar situation of struggling to find people who cared about what they were doing and who wanted to treat them fairly." - Scott Mabs

Homegrown acts as a sales representative for growers during harvest, through packaging, and final sale on the market, Mabs said. Growth in the organics industry fueled Homegrown in the 2010s, leading to a more strategic focus for the company today. 

“Homegrown has changed, and now we are very focused on the items we grow and have knowledge on internally,” Mabs said, listing citrus, berries, stonefruit, grapes, and fall fruits like pomegranates and permissions as the company’s current specialties.

However, this narrowing of focus does not mean Homegrown has stopped evolving, said Mabs. While once focused on only blueberries, Homegrown Organic Farms expanded to include experts in blackberries, kiwi berries, raspberries, and currants and specialty berries in 2023. “Expanding the berry category has been a major focus for us,” said Mabs.

As Homegrown looks to the future, Mabs sees the company taking on a greater role in agricultural education. The company has already experienced success with this approach, earning best educational video accolades for its “GROWN by” series.

“[The ‘GROWN by’ series] follows a number of growers throughout the year, hearing from them about what is happening on the farm,” Mabs said. “We spend a lot of time featuring our growers and what we do at the field level. We’ve always felt that featuring our growers and making them the rock stars is what is supposed to happen.”

“Expanding the berry category has been a major focus for us." - Scott Mabs

Consumers expect more information about the origins of their organic produce, and they’re no longer impressed by new retailers and eye-catching advertising sets, said Mabs. “Those are played-out. Now it’s about consumers making decisions, and ag has always had a hard time getting a message to the consumer. We have to continue to be diligent about getting the messaging out there and invest in how we bring that message to the consumer base.”

In addition to day-in-the-life videos of growers, Homegrown is taking the lead on educating the organic shopper on new trends in sustainability like regenerative organic agriculture.

“Consumers are starting to hear different messages, so it’s very important we bring clear information and truth to consumers about what these ideas are,” Mabs said. “We have an obligation to educate about the product.”