Encinitas farm stand provides pay-what-you-can organics sandiegouniontribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sandiegouniontribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
by Nathalie Feingold April 1, 2021
Food insecurity is a prevalent issue in San Diego County. It’s a trend that existed long before the pandemic; however, since the outbreak, the impacts of food insecurity have, undoubtedly, been exacerbated.
On Mar. 17, Coastal Roots Farm hosted a Zoom conference addressing food insecurity with State Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, Coastal Roots CEO Javier Guerrero and Tribal Chairwoman of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel Bernice Paipa.
“Covid-19 has shed a light on the inequities that have always existed in any system,” Tasha explained.
The increased need for fresh produce is something that Coastal Roots Farm has witnessed firsthand through their pay-what-you-can farm stand.
“It completely throws us off guard,” said Adam McCurdy.
He’s the Director of Farm Production at Coastal Roots Farm in Encinitas.
“We’re a community farm with a focus on nourishing community,” said McCurdy. “The food that we’re producing is focused on going towards hunger relief.”
He said they’ve worked out a good system to grow organic, healthy crops in Encinitas.
“Crops grow like you wouldn’t even believe. Now, that said, we are completely dependent on our irrigation system,” he admitted. “It’s very expensive and it’s a lot, a lot of labor to maintain the survival of those crops.”
Javier Guerrero
(Courtesy photo)
Javier Guerrero, president and CEO of Coastal Roots Farm, recently received the 2021 Fran Aleshire Leadership Award during Cal State San Marcos’ annual Report to the Community. The Leadership North County Alumni Network presents the award each year to a graduate of the program who shows great leadership, in the spirit of community leader Fran Aleshire. Individuals are nominated by their peers. Coastal Roots Farm, 441 Saxony Road, is a nonprofit Jewish community farm and education center, and Guerrero has built a team focused on equitable educational programming for community youths from disadvantaged schools and other schools. He introduced internships and after-school programs, and oversaw a 35 percent increase in food production to distribute annually to more than 30,000 residents in need. Guerrero was appointed president and CEO of Coastal Roots Farm in November. Before that, he was the organization’s executive director for 21/2 years. Visit