Family Heirloom
Balakian Farms in Reedley
Story by Christine Vartanian Datian | Photos courtesy of Balakian Farms
Fourth-Generation Farmer and entrepreneur Amber Balakian’s great-grandparents were immigrants who fled the Armenian Genocide more than a century ago. They settled in Reedley, a small San Joaquin Valley farming town, where they planted vineyards. Balakian Farms was founded in 1925 by Zadig Balakian. His son, John Balakian, was the eldest of six children and continued the family business for many years, adding tree fruit and other crops along the way. In the 1990s, Ginger Balakian, Amber’s mother, transitioned to organic practices, and began growing a variety of fruit and vegetables, including peaches, plums, nectarines, pluots, apricots, lemons, eggplant, Armenian cucumbers, pomegranates, persimmons, summer squash and heirloom tomatoes.
“Balakian Farms heirloom tomatoes (known as heritage tomatoes) provide abundant, fresh taste, whereas many grocery-bought tomatoes cannot,” Amber says. “However, taste isn’t the only eye-popping quality about these fascinating tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes have a striking appearance that is beautifully diverse. There are more than 3,000 varieties of heirloom tomatoes in active cultivation around the world, and more than 15,000 varieties worldwide. Some heirloom tomatoes are shaped like peppers; others are lumpy and huge. Their colors can range from red, yellow, purple, pink, orange, green and white to so much more.”
As a young girl, Amber spent long hours working alongside her family and their employees (who she considers practically family) on their 20-acre Reedley farm. While she loved spending time on the farm, working in agriculture was never part of her future dreams. “I grew up going to farmers markets, including the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco, and working on the farm was a major part of my life. After high school, though, farming was something I didn’t really consider for a career,” she says.
“I studied economics at UC San Diego, and went on to Harvard for my master’s degree in management and operations,” she says. Going to school on the East Coast, Amber was one of the few students from California, and even more rare, she grew up on a family farm. “Classmates asked about my family’s farm, and I began thinking of it more as a business, and wondered how I could help my family with my business background.”
Instead of a corporate career, Amber returned to California to see how she could contribute to her family’s farming legacy. She remembers how her Grandmother Stella cooked lunch every day for the farm’s employees — many of whom had worked for the family for more than 20 years. This sense of devotion gave Amber the belief that working together on a farm creates invaluable relationships that last a lifetime. Those relationships helped draw her back. “I’m a fourth-generation farmer. My great-grandparents struggled and came to America to escape the Armenian Genocide, and began a new life in Reedley. I am proud of their dedication to their family and this farm all these years.”
Today, Amber manages the farm with her parents, Ginger and Clarence, and her beloved grandmother, along with several full- and part-time workers. She has innovated and expanded the farm’s offerings with a line of canned tomato sauces. She is also a full-time professor at Fresno City College, where she teaches entrepreneurship. “I love teaching, and I especially love teaching at Fresno City College. Some students come from difficult circumstances and have overcome many obstacles to be on campus; they’re some of the brightest students I’ve worked with recently.
“I set out to create healthy and tasty products. Using my Grandmother Stella’s cherished recipe, we created our own line of organic blended heirloom tomatoes. Balakian Farms is bringing a new brand of freshness and sweetness to every kitchen around the world,” Amber says.
“Nicknamed ‘The World’s Fruit Basket,’ our home base in Reedley has served us well over the past century.”
As an African American/Armenian woman helping direct and manage the farm, Amber is an anomaly in an industry primarily comprised of white men. Chefs and customers are increasingly promoting her farm and products on social media, celebrating the diversity and values of Balakian Farms. She’s grateful for the boost in awareness and loves sharing her family farm’s amazing story.
Balakian Farms • balakianfarms.com
