110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - wlinks_may08 - Index

PEEKS I BY SEAN MCCAULEY I PHOTOS BY RUSSELL BYRNE
THE EAST COUNTY
AG REVOLUTION
Sean is a competitor in Iron Man contests. In his
first competition he placed in the top 10 percent of
his age group. He trained nine months for the event
by swimming 3,000 yards every morning, and either
running eight miles or biking 25-30 miles in the
afternoon. His intensity, commitment, and preparation
provide a useful paradigm for curing
Brentwood’s threatened agricultural industry.
Sean has been living in Brentwood’s rural-butbustling
community for 36 of the 38 years of his life.
He was born in Honolulu and his family moved here
from Hawaii when he was two years old so his dad
could begin farming in 1972 on what was then rural
property along Balfour Road.
Sean was attending Liberty High School when the
first Brentwood traffic light was installed, but the
community was poised upon the threshold of a
boom that would evolve it from country hamlet to
small city with breathtaking speed. Over the next
decade or so a flood of people migrated here from
nearby Silicon Valley and San Francisco looking for
inexpensive housing, and creating a swelling tide
of humanity.
Maria Gomes moved here with her family when
she was in sixth grade. Maria became Sean’s childhood
sweetheart in high school, and in 1992 — four
years after they graduated from Liberty Union High
School — she became his wife.
24 www.110mag.com May/June 2008
SEAN IS A LOCAL WUNDERKIND — A YOUNG
ENTREPRENEUR WHO GREW UP ON A LOCAL
FARM AND LIFTED HIMSELF FROM POVERTY
TO COMPARATIVE WEALTH ON THE STRENGTH
OF A DETERMINATION TO SUCCEED.
OUR AGRICULTURAL PARADISE
Sean is leading the way in preserving, or perhaps
reinventing, the reputation and excellence of
Brentwood’s agricultural legacy.
For a long time Brentwood farmers have been
growing world-class products. People in places like
San Jose and Sacramento know of Brentwood
because of the richness of our agricultural heritage.
We have become the region’s top choice for products
like cherries, peaches, and wine. Brentwood
raised corn is some of the sweetest on the planet.
Brentwood is perched along the edges of the
Central Valley, which is one of the most important
farming regions on the planet. The quality of
the topsoil is optimal for growing quality produce.
Soil in the eastern parts of the area, along the
delta, was laid down by centuries of annual flooding
from the nearby San Joaquin River so that
some farmers are growing crops of corn and fruit
on rich alluvial deposits reported to be as much
as nine feet in depth.
We who are farming along the Diablo foothills to
the west are blessed with soil and climate very similar
to conditions found in the famous French and
Spanish wine and olive-growing regions.
Only part of the excellence of our area’s agricultural
products is due to superior soil and climate.
The farmers, themselves, deserve a large part of the
credit. Some of these people have been farming
their land for generations. They know the soil. They
understand what they’re doing and what they are
growing. The vast experience of their farming
heritage is one of our greatest assets.
One of the great changes that has been taking
place over the past decade or so is the growth of our
East County wine industry. A number of vineyards
are springing up and local varietals are garnering
prizes in regional, national, and even international
competitions. Brentwood is successfully competing
with wines and oils from Napa, Sonoma, Livermore’s
Valley of the Moon, and the Central Valley, as well
as products from foreign growers.
TROUBLES IN PARADISE
East County is losing land to developers. For example,
local residents are enthusiastically welcoming
our new Streets of Brentwood outdoor mall, but
construction workers have poured concrete and
erected buildings on 60 acres of what used to be
rich bottomland and have thus removed the soil
from production forever.
One of the driving forces behind the loss of land
is the growing instability of small mom-and-pop
farms. It has become increasingly more difficult
for a farm family to eke a living out of a few dozen
acres of farmland and, as a result, over the past