About

My name is Donald Sherman. I have been farming here in the central valley for over 30 years raising a variety of fruits and vegetables. My family migrated from Louisiana in the 1950’s to the Bay area, later to settle in the Central Valley. I am the youngest of 13 children and as a family unit, we have worked a variety of agricultural jobs before growing our own crops. As a third-generation farmer, I drew early inspiration from my mother, who maintained a nursery, grew flowers, and studied horticulture. My older brothers received degrees in horticulture and I quickly followed suit. Donald is also part of the African American Farmers of California, a nonprofit organization based in Fresno that uses a demonstration farm to cultivate seasonal and ethnic African crops to empower youth to learn how to farm. As a community, farmers share knowledge, farm equipment, safety practices, and Donald is able to support transportation for other farmers using his refrigerated truck. Donald is involved from seed to delivery - handling irrigation, planting, harvest, packing, delivery, and much more. He can’t remember the last time him and his family didn’t have a farm. He’s driven by a lifelong vision to grow food for the community, and he continues to innovate on 20 acres of land in Kerman, CA.

Top crops

Winter: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Collards. Planting for the summer happens around mid-April, switch production to watermelon, honey dew, bell pepper, roma tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, green beans, yellow and red onions (harvest beginning in May, ~1.5 acres)

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