The Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin adjudication is scheduled to begin on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, but Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms are no longer plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Originally filed in 2021, the adjudication calls for a judge to rule on how much water everyone can pump from the basin, which is one of California’s 21 critically overdrafted basins that has a state-required groundwater sustainability plan. The sustainability plan calls for a 60 percent reduction in water use in 20 years. The suit sparked frustration for Cuyama residents, who later launched a boycott against the carrot-growing companies and a petition calling for the corporations to drop the lawsuit.
Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway, which left the lawsuit in August and November, respectively, said in separate statements that companies remaining as lawsuit plaintiffs are landowners in the valley and aren’t affiliated with either ag corporation. Those are Lapis Land Company LLC, Ruby Land Company LLC, Diamond Farming Company, and Bolthouse Land Company LLC.
According to California secretary of state business filings, Lapis Land Company and Ruby Land Company are both managed by Legacy Farm Management LLC—which is managed by Barbara Grimm-Marshall, William Barrett, Brandon Grimm, and Jeffrey Meger. Diamond Farming Company’s officers and directors are Grimm-Marshall, Meger, Barrett, and Grimm.
Grimm-Marshall was the co-owner of Grimmway Enterprises; Brandon Grimm is the general manager of grower relations for Grimmway Farms; and Meger was a president for Grimmway Farms until 2016.
The Grimm family sold Grimmway Farms in 2020 to an Indiana-based private equity firm. Lapis Land Company, Ruby Land Company, and Diamond Farming Company own land in Cuyama and Grimmway Farms is the tenant, said Dana Brennan, Grimmway’s vice president of external affairs and corporate responsibility.
“Following the sale in 2020, Grimmway Enterprises is no longer owned by the Grimm families. None of the individuals on the list provided by the Santa Maria Sun are current officers or directors of Grimmway Enterprises, Inc.,” Brennan said in an email. “The entities listed by the Sun are not subsidiaries or affiliates of Grimmway. Grimmway has a landlord-tenant relationship with the entities, where we lease a portion of their farm ground.”
Grimmway Enterprises Inc. secretary of state filings show that Jeff Huckaby, Jeremy Ladle, and Steven Antongiovanni are the company’s officers. Brandon Grimm was also named as a director of Grimmway Enterprises in a Nov. 20, 2020, statement of information.
In a statement shared by the LA Times, Grimmway Farms said it decided to pull out of the adjudication because “many do not support the adjudication” and that it has compromised the strong relationships with fellow farmers in the valley.
“Our relationships with the residents of Cuyama are more important and valuable to us than this court case,” Grimmway Farms said in a statement. “We hope all parties can work cooperatively going forward to achieve fairness, balance, and alignment as we address these critical water issues for all who live, work, and farm in this region.”
Bolthouse Land Company LLC’s president is Anthony Leggio, according to California secretary of state business filings. Leggio is also president of Bolthouse Properties, which is a “legacy of the Bolthouse family’s involvement since 1915 in WM. Bolthouse Farms,” according to the Bolthouse Properties website.
Leggio worked with the Bolthouse family for more than 40 years and served as legal counsel for Bolthouse Farms until Bolthouse was sold in 2006 to Madison Dearborn, a Chicago-based venture capitalist company, Bolthouse Properties officials told the Sun. Following the sale, Leggio became president of Bolthouse Properties, according to the Bolthouse Properties website.
In a statement shared by the LA Times, Bolthouse Farms officials said that Bolthouse Farms leases the land from “Bolthouse Land Company (aka Bolthouse Properties)” and that Bolthouse Properties is “an unrelated third party company” under different ownership.
Bolthouse Farms said that it had reevaluated its involvement and is committed to following the groundwater sustainability plan.
“Together, with our neighbors and fellow farmers of Cuyama, we look forward to making a positive impact on the land, people, and future of food,” Bolthouse Farms said in the statement. “We take pride in our membership within the Cuyama Valley community and express gratitude for the dedicated efforts of our long-standing team members who have diligently contributed to our farms.”
Cuyama resident Jacob Furstenfeld told the Sun that the companies’ departure was a move to “get out of the public eye” after the lawsuit garnered national attention. Even though the corporations pulled out of the adjudication, Furstenfeld said that landowners will continue to boycott carrots and circulate its petition, which had more than 9,000 signatures as of Jan. 2.
“If they were really wanting to patch things up in the community, they would put pressure on these landowners [to] follow the groundwater sustainability plan and that would be a step in the right direction,” Furstenfeld said. “We’re not going to quit until this thing is solved and we can come up with common ground and get this out of the courts and into the public’s hands.”
This article appears in Jan 4-14, 2024.