Malik
Ranch Nuts
From Malik Ranch in Hickman, California, the Louie family brings you a variety of tasty almonds, pistachios, dried and fresh fruit.
Farm History
For generations, the Louie family has been farming.
They were farmers in China, and when a famine struck, a few family members
immigrated to the US and became migrant workers in the Sacramento Delta.
Eventually, they saved enough money to buy a farm in Milpitas and Gilroy,
and farmed that land up to the 1980s. Peter Louie and his two brothers
started Louie’s Produce Company in 1982. We started selling at farmers’
markets in the 1980’s. In 1990, our family joined up with the Malik
family. Since then, we’ve been Malik Ranch.
Philosophy
To bring the most nutritious California grown nuts
and tree-ripened fruits to customers and to educate people about including
nuts in their meals to assure a healthy diet.
Growing Practices
We use organic compost and 20/20/20 fertilizer. The
soil composition is already very good, and the trees have been there for
such a long time, that there’s no need to add anything artificial.
We’ve used no pesticides since 1990. We use hand and mechanical
cultivation and herbicides for weeds. We don't interfere with pests. Any
damaged fruits or nuts go back to the land and act as compost. Our crops
are irrigated by local city water. Malik Ranch is currently run by five
family members, one full-time foreman and 10 part-time seasonal helpers.
Farmland
220 acres in Hickman, southeast of Modesto; approximately
115 miles east from San Francisco.
