Jeremy Lane

Jeremy Lane is FCFB’s Vegetable commodity chairman

With the trend in promotion of locally grown products, FCFB Director Jeremy Lane sees much potential for local growers. Lane, who serves as FCFB’s commodity chair, has seen food trends come and go.

In fact, Lane has paid extra attention recently to the slow-food movement. The slow food movement has been a resistance movement to fast food to preserve cultural cuisine made from locally grown products. “I can’t get enough literature on the subject,” Lane said. He also mentioned he is fascinated by food origins, and he loves to cook.

I’m interested in where our food comes from, how it is produced and how it makes its way to my table,” Lane said. He said consumers’ concern for what goes into their food has changed the emphasis on the typical, daily diet.

I’m very interested in local consumption,” Lane said. “I’ve really taken a long look at the establishment of seasonal diets. If it is not grown here locally at a certain time of year, do we really need to ship it in from somewhere else?”

Lane emphasizes the importance and the trend of “locally grown” products. He says his new passion really helps him realize the importance of agriculture in our region. “There is so much potential in agriculture.”

We all start somewhere

Lane accelerated his involvement with production agriculture through projects at his local high school.

Although Lane’s parents weren’t directly involved with agriculture, he was introduced to agriculture through his grandparents. His first hands-on experience came during Christmas vacations on his grandparents’ farm in Reedley, where he pruned grapevines for extra spending money.

Growing up in Selma, Lane saw an opportunity to get involved with the Selma High School farm. Students at Selma High School could apply to grow a commodity, operations they run under the supervision of agricultural professors.

Through this program, Lane grew sweet red onion transplants. “I really enjoyed the vegetable projects,” Lane said. “It was an incredible amount of work, but it was very engaging, and I enjoyed watching the crop develop into a finished product.” He said the project covered everything from soil preparation to the final invoice, and students had an opportunity to take in some of the profit.

After graduating from Selma High School in 1993, Lane set out to pursue an agriculture degree. He first attended Kings River College (now Reedley Community College). He transferred and graduated from California State University, Fresno in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in plant science, with an emphasis in production management.

Thrown into the thick of things

Before Lane graduated, he had a position in quality control (QC) at Baloian Farms in Fresno. Baloian Farms is a family-owned business that has been in production since the 1920s. Lane then transferred from QC to the shipping department. Upon graduation, he became a harvest foreman, and began farming leased land on the side.

He grew leaf lettuce (mostly Romaine) and some squash. Through his position at Baloian Farms and personal farming activities, Lane became well-versed with the production side of agriculture.

After a brief stint at Baloian Farms in a sales position, Lane decided to accept an offer to work for USDA in Chicago for the next three years as an investigator. His primary job was to investigate licensing in the produce industry, mediate disputes between the growers and the receivers, form reports for Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Washington, D.C., and investigate false accountings. The false accountings can be anything from money laundering to false claims of damages or defects claimed by the receivers.

While I was working for the USDA, I took what I learned from the production side of the industry and applied it to my investigations,” Lane said. Since coming back to Baloian Farms, where he has been the sales manager for one year, he credits this experience and current knowledge of the law for giving him a “thick skin,” which helps him keep receivers accountable during transactions.

Back to Fresno

Lane credits three main reasons why he moved back to the Fresno area: 1.) he moved back to the Fresno area to settle with his wife, Flannery, 2) he wanted to work for Baloian Farms, a family operation, and 3) he wanted to keep his grandfather’s land in agriculture production after his grandfather passed away.

Lane has been married to Flannery for three years, and they now live in Old Fig Garden in Fresno. Lane and Flannery met each other through a mutual friend shortly after she graduated from University of California, Berkeley, at which time Flannery was home visiting her parents in Fresno. “The rest was history,” Lane said.

While Lane has done a tremendous amount of domestic traveling throughout the United States with his former job with USDA, Lane and his wife love to travel outside the country. They have traveled to France, Mexico, the French Polynesia and more. “Traveling is a priority,” Lane said.

Bringing expertise to FCFB

Since coming back to Fresno, Lane’s niche in production management has been of huge benefit to the FCFB Board of Directors. He has been the vegetable commodity chairman for three years, recruited by former FCFB President Debbie Jacobsen.

Lane commends Farm Bureau for being advocates for Fresno County growers at the city, county, state and federal level, because local growers don’t always have a voice. One example he used was how Farm Bureau representatives lobby in Washington D.C. and Sacramento, providing a voice for local growers back home in Fresno County.

Two major issues Lane pointed out to be priorities are immigration reform and its need for Ag Jobs legislation and water availability. Lane has been a great spokesperson on issues affecting vegetable production in Fresno County.

Meet Your Board Members Profile: Ag Today, Oct 07

By: John Migliazzo