A Place to Put Down Roots

Left to right: Isabel Rosas, Yadira Mendiola, Isaias Malta, Jose Ramon. Photo by David Mancera

Meet Yadira Mendiola – The Queen of Vegetables — and the Rancho Corralitos project helping farmers build a lasting future on the land.

You may have tried Albion or 089 strawberries from The Queen of Vegetables through Rootstock. They’re grown by Yadira Mendiola, a first-generation farmer, a mother of three, and a woman with a dream of having land she can call her own. We want to introduce you to Yadira — and the Rancho Corralitos project and partners helping that dream take root. To share two sides of this story, we spoke with Yadira and David Mancera, a longtime advocate for small farmers and one of the people who helped bring Rancho Corralitos to life.

Photo by David Mancera

A woman who dares to dream

Yadira grew up in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, and came to the United States in 2000, “filled with hopes, dreams, and the expectation of a better future.” She worked in nurseries, food shops, and fields before joining a seed improvement company, where she discovered a deeper interest in agriculture. A coworker encouraged her to take organic farming classes at ALBA in Salinas Valley, California, an organization that helps farmworkers start their own organic farms. “I observed, learned, and educated myself, and a passion for healthy food was born,” she recalls.

Yadira became the first person in her family to start a farm. She pursued that dream alongside fellow farmworkers, even when money was scarce and there wasn’t always enough to eat. She wanted “to show California and my community that here stands a woman who dares to dream, striving to be part of a change in our lives.”

The Queen of Vegetables began in November 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Money was tight: “Sometimes I didn’t know whether to buy food or put gas in the car to go tend to my crops.”

In late 2023, local Monterey County schools expressed a need for organic lettuce and strawberries for their meals. That demand led her to plant her first organic strawberry crop. Farmers’ markets brought another source of encouragement: meeting people who appreciated her food and the work behind it. “That gave me a boost of encouragement and the drive to keep pursuing my dream, to continue growing organic produce, and to be part of this shift toward healthy eating.”

Then she learned that her four-year land lease would end. “You feel like your dreams are ending because there are no small plots available to move to — only huge tracts of land for rent,” she told us. Her children encouraged her: “No, Mom, don’t give up; you can do this.”

“I had already been raising my children with a passion for organic food and a dream of one day having our own home — our own little ranch. Then hope arrived: the Rancho Corralitos project.”

Photo by David Mancera

Today, Yadira is growing her farm at Rancho Corralitos in Watsonville. “I am still here, now with 21 acres and the aspiration of eventually owning this land — a place where I can keep farming without the fear of losing the property.” Asked what ownership would mean, she told us, “I believe that the day I sign that contract as a landowner will be the greatest thing in my life.” She knows ownership won’t remove every difficulty, but it would change how she faces them: “The anxieties would still be there, but they wouldn’t be the same.”

That future includes caring for the land. Yadira uses cover cropping, crop rotation, and composting, and is working to use less machinery on her farm. “I am no longer just an organic farmer; I am now an organic and regenerative farmer, thanks to the organizations and people making all of this possible.” For her, that work is personal: “The environment, the health of us farmers, and soil health matter deeply to me.”

Her commitment extends to the community that has supported her. She wants to keep providing healthy food to schools and hopes to help others through difficult times. “I will be here whenever my community needs me, standing strong; if the day ever comes when I have the chance to grow fruits and vegetables specifically to help during a pandemic or a storm, I will do so in return for the support I have received

Photo by David Mancera

Helping farmers put down roots

Yadira’s experience is familiar to David Mancera, who has spent more than 20 years in agriculture helping farmers navigate business planning, financing, and the practical challenges of building viable farms. Before Rootstock launched, David was helping us at Rootstock understand these realities. An early advisor to our founder, Julia, David has shaped how we think about the food system and farmers’ needs.

When David began advising farmers at Kitchen Table Advisors in 2015, he found that “most farmers had month-to-month, verbal leases. No formal written lease.” Each move meant disrupted production, equipment to relocate, and a setback to the business. As he explained, “The first year is always hard getting to know the land.”

Kitchen Table Advisors and California FarmLink worked together to help farmers secure written, longer-term leases. However, another challenge remained: much of the Central Coast’s farmland comes in large parcels, while smaller plots are scarce, prohibitively costly per acre, and often less suitable for farming.

David now leads La Cultiva, which helps farmers secure land suited to their businesses and long-term goals. That work brought him and a group of partners together to create Rancho Corralitos: a project offering Latino and Latina immigrant farmers secure access to farmland and a path toward ownership, so they can invest in their farms and build a lasting future for their families.

The project began in 2021 with the purchase of 177 acres of organic farmland in Watsonville. A collective of farmers lease smaller portions suited to their operations, with the goal of purchasing the land at a reduced cost. David emphasizes that this is prime farmland, with favorable growing conditions, infrastructure, and proximity to markets. Farmers like Yadira already have the skills and ambition to grow their businesses, but they need secure access to have a stable foundation to build on. “They know how to farm,” he told us. “They have a vision.”

The project was designed to transfer ownership to the farmers within a set number of years, but the pathway to ownership is evolving to better reflect farmers' readiness. Rather than requiring all farmers to purchase at the same time, the partners are evaluating a more flexible approach that allows farmers to move into ownership when they are financially and operationally ready

Making this project possible requires financing, business preparation, property management, and infrastructure. “It’s taken an ecosystem of partners to make this possible,” David told us.

That ecosystem includes:

• The People’s Land Fund: Co-ownership, legal work for the purchase, and support for land and infrastructure needs.

• Dirt Capital Partners: Co-ownership, farmland acquisition and financing expertise, and investor relationships.

• Manzanita Capital Collective: Connections with investors who share the project’s goals.

• Kitchen Table Advisors: Farmer relationships, business and financial preparation, and development of the financing approach.

• La Cultiva: Land access that fits farmers’ businesses and long-term goals, supporting sustainable farming and generational wealth.

• California FarmLink: More recent support, including refrigeration and infrastructure, alongside its work helping farmers access financing and secure land.

• The Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz: Local hub for conservation, providing technical, financial and educational assistance to manage natural resources.

Together, they are helping create the conditions for farmers to stay, invest, and build toward ownership — a possibility Yadira describes in deeply personal terms.

Photo by David Mancera

From the field to your table

Secure land gives a farm somewhere to grow. Dependable customers help make the business viable. David reminded us that market access is essential to making land projects succeed. Farmers need prices that support their businesses, relationships that help them plan, and ways to get perishable food to customers while it’s at its best.

That is where Rootstock’s work connects. We help farmers reach customers and take on marketing and logistics. Our partnership with Yadira is just beginning. We hope to grow it through steady orders, good communication, and a shared appreciation for what she produces.

For our customers, that begins with something simple: choosing food you’re excited to eat and getting to know the person who grew it. Your order helps turn a harvest into income a farmer can use to keep building.

Yadira sees schools, farmers’ markets, and online stores as part of a community helping change the food system. Despite the difficulties, her sense of possibility is striking: “We are millionaires because we have the land, the labor, people with dreams, with hopes.”

We’re grateful to share her harvest with you — and to be a small part of the future she’s working toward.

Photo by David Mancera

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Learn more about the partners behind Rancho Corralitos

The People’s Land Fund · Dirt Capital Partners · Manzanita Capital Collective · Kitchen Table Advisors · La Cultiva · California FarmLink · Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz