"No words" was my first response to the news posted on Facebook last night that long time organic movement leader Amigo Bob had died after a four plus year long fight with cancer. Then I cried.
He also helped me learn about organic viticulture over the last decade, starting with having coffee with me in 2010 in St. Helena and explaining the basics to me, as well as decrying "the pesticide pushers." (I had not known the farm supply store that sold toxic chemicals to Napa growers was just a half a mile away hidden from public view on the opposite side of Highway 29).
He could assess the health of a vineyard not just by sticking a shovel in the ground but by watching the insects and life in the vineyard. Birds and spiders were a great metric in his book.
His vineyard clients include everyone from your basic Mendo grower (selling to Bonterra) to the high falutin' Napa crowd (Long Meadow Ranch, Tres Sabores, and many more). He preached companion planting (pomegranates and olive trees). But more than an agriculturalist, he was an organizer and an activist.
He never intended to get involved in ag; at first he was involved in trucking organic produce, but then a movement started and he was at the very core of it.
Read of his many accomplishments and fervent missives here in these past posts and look for more to come online this week, as his passing is mourned far and wide.
• Organic Vineyard Consultant and Farm Advisor Amigo Bob Says Pesticide Residue Testing "Is a Fraud," Urges Activism (Feb. 4, 2019)
• Amigo Bob, A Founding Father of the Organic Farming Movement in America, Needs Your Help (July 4, 2016)
• Sonoma County Grape Growers Meet for Organic Workshop at Preston Vineyards (May 5, 2011)
I also have many unpublished interviews with Amigo and will share some excerpts from these later this week when I have more time to write.
FOR FURTHER READING
LA Times: Amigo Bob Cantisano, a towering figure in the West Coast’s organic farming movement, dies at 69
The Union: Organic farming pioneer Amigo Bob Cantisano dies
Sierra Foothills Report: Amigo Bob Cantisano, Rest In Peace
National Geographic: The Future of Food
Bioneers: Remembering Amigo Bob
It was a wonderful opportunity for us to work with Amigo Bob for the years he was available to us. Our vineyards never looked better, and the wines we made from them were among our best ever. Earlier this year, we picked the first pear that was harvested from the bare rooted pear tree we bought from Bob in 2017. We sliced it and ate it with some Reggiano Parmesan, and a glass of Cabernet. We then raised our glasses to toast Bob and all that he had done for us.
ReplyDeleteHe pushed the movement forward for so many years and trained the best farmers committed to organics. He will be really missed but his legacy in farming will last a long time.
ReplyDelete