With decades of industry experience under his belt, you very well may have already crossed paths with Homegrown Organic Farms’ Stephen Paul, whether it be on a bustling trade show floor or a quick phone call in the middle of a hectic work day.
The third-generation stonefruit grower utilizes the holistic farming knowledge passed down by his father and grandfather to now oversee HGO’s stonefruit operation as Deciduous Category Director, in addition to growing fruit for the company alongside his son. Homegrown Organic’s robust program includes high-demand items like peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, pluots, and more.
But even more impressive than the high-quality organic fruit the company’s grower network brings to market is the methods by which this is achieved. As a 100 percent Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) certified and Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) stonefruit program, this dignified operation also wields the appeal of top-level social responsibility, sustainability, and farmworker appreciation. Homegrown Organic Farms has developed and maintained a comprehensive approach to producing fresh fruit responsibly in a way that equally benefits the grower, the retailer, and the end consumer.
As Stephen puts it, bringing stonefruit to life in this way is an art form—a unique one certainly bolstered by his decades of industry experience and mastery of the category. All of this was revealed when I recently sat down to catch up with the professed Peach Whisperer himself.
Peggy Packer: Stephen, you mentioned you view stonefruit production as a form of art due to its appearance and the level of attention needed to bring quality fruit to market. How can retailers and consumers tap into the beauty of stonefruit? 
Stephen Paul, Deciduous Category Director, Homegrown Organic Farms: I’ve always viewed fruit as an art form because of its natural beauty. There’s nothing like when you wash a piece of fruit and take in the radiant color of the skin or when you look at the inner cell structure of a delicious piece of stonefruit. From dressing up dishes and salads to crafting smoothies or just enjoying a fresh snack, there’s a lot that can be done with stonefruit. The category gives consumers some latitude to have fun with it on the culinary side.
People should not view eating healthy as work. With good-quality fruit, nourishing yourself can be a sense of self adventure, only limited by your creativity. We need to reinvigorate people’s imaginations about how to enjoy fresh fruit. With its innate beauty and enticing appearance, stonefruit has the ability to create all types of “oohs” and “aahs”—from impressing someone with your home cooking to presentation at the fine dining level. That creativity is begging to be optimized with the variety of stonefruit offerings we have available.
SP: Homegrown Organic Farms has over 25 years of experience in organic-certified farming. We farm to
protect the fruit, the orchard, and the soil, but organic certification requires us to be more attentive. When you farm organic, you’re farming in a proactive sense, not reactive. You’re in your fields a lot more; you’re able to keep a closer eye on things.
ROC refers to everything below the soil level. Because of the ROC program, we’re able to document and improve the health of the micro-growth under the soil, and its ability to retain water and moisture, resulting in healthier soil and reduced water consumption. Happy soil makes happy trees, which leads to happy fruit and happy customers.
Think of how you treat your body holistically: If you have a balanced diet and you’re treating your body with the right supplements and vitamins, you’re going to be stronger and healthier. Trees are no different.
When it comes to our people, we want them to share our values of commitment and care taken in the fields. If you want your employees to care, you have to care about them, and that’s what the EFI program ensures in a nutshell. EFI makes labor a part of the solution and enables us to care for our fields and employees in a way that keeps them both healthy and happy.
"People should not view eating healthy as work. With good-quality fruit, nourishing yourself can be a sense of self adventure, only limited by your creativity."
Stephen Paul, Deciduous Category Director, Homegrown Organic Farms
SP: As an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), the phrase “trusted partner” is very valuable to us. Our partners value our transparency, our informational flow, how we do things, and how we help our customers and inspire consumers to be excited and engaged in that total stonefruit experience. When you support Homegrown, you’re helping small family farms and growers stay exactly what they are: family farms with care and passion that they want to pass down over generations.
SP: We’re going to continue to grow with discipline. We’re not looking to grow a market; instead, we’re looking for the market to help grow growers. Grower health and farm health are important for sustainability in this business.
To support our partners in this need, we are now engaging and adding conventional programs into our offerings, with hopes to convert some of that acreage into organic production down the road.
The “Peach Whisperer” title is not an easy one to obtain or uphold, yet I can think of no one more deserving than Stephen Paul.
Whether you know him as the Peach Whisperer, Deciduous Category Director for Homegrown Organic Farms, a friend, or anywhere in between, you can be confident this fresh fruit aficionado is guiding the category forward on the ever-important pillars of reliability, commitment, and care. 
