Producer

David Vierra says of his passion for farming, “It’s in my blood, I can’t help it.” David’s grandfather, Ellard Vierra, helped settle the Sacramento River Delta in the 1920's, and farmed full time until the mid 60's when he was offered a job with Reclamation District 999. Ellard could not stop farming, and in his spare time he maintained a two acre garden on his property in West Sacramento.


When David was in the 8th grade, he traveled to Apple Hill. It was that trip that inspired David to grow pumpkins. David’s mother couldn’t keep David out of their family garden. At the age of 13, David started growing his first pumpkin patch. He always had a little plot to build and maintain his own garden and pumpkin patch. Five years later, at the age of 18, Vierra Farms was established. At that time, Vierra Farms had a commodity of grass hay and wheat yet David never lost sight of his pumpkin patch.

Today, David still cultivates his grandfather’s 2 acre garden plus 800 acres of specialty vegetables. His specialty items include pumpkins, 6 varieties of hard squash, Heirloom and slicing tomatoes, black seedless watermelons, yellow seedless watermelons, regular watermelons, heirloom and slicing tomatoes. In 1989, he founded his own wholesale division, BELLAJACE Produce, named after his three children, Isabella, Jace and Ayden.

Food grown in your own community was probably picked within the past day or two. It’s crisp, sweet and loaded with flavor. Produce flown or trucked in from Florida, Chile or Holland is, quite understandably, much older. Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles. In a week-long (or more) delay from harvest to dinner table, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink and produce loses its vitality.