Known for premium potatoes and table grapes cultivated from the California heartland, Top Brass Marketing is excited about its summer season of crops. “Our California central valley grape season kicked off in July and we are really excited about this year,” said Brett Dixon, president of Bakersfield, CA-based Top Brass.
July signals the start of grape season for California’s central valley, where industry experts are seeing a promotable, high quality, stable crop, similar to 2021 in volume. April’s initial crop estimate forecast 95 million, 19-pound boxes.
By
December 14, 2020
Carl Northam grew up in Shafter, CA, in the 1940s and ‘50s in the heart of the agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley, so it seemed only natural to look for a job on a ranch when he was first seeking employment in his late teens.
Carl Northam
In 1960, Northam did, in fact, secure what he calls a “gopher” position with nearby Vignolo Farms. At the time, Vignolo Farms was a row crop operation growing alfalfa, cotton, wheat and beans.
“The founder, C.J. (Ted) Vignolo, was a personable fellow so I stayed around,” said Northam.
In those early years, Northam didn’t think much beyond the next day so he didn’t really consider that this would be his career. But it is 60 years later and the longtime farm manager for Vignolo Farms is ready to retire. He quipped that the years flew by and “then I woke up one day and it was 60 years later.”