Every family has a beginning. Ours began with a dream and a journey across the ocean.

In the early 1900s, Grandpa Sebastian Cipponeri left his home in Sicily in search of a better life in America. Leaving behind his wife and children to care for their small store and piece of land, he set out with little more than determination and hope for the future. In time, his family joined him, and together they worked as farm laborers for the Sciabica family and others, embracing the belief that with hard work and perseverance, anything was possible. 

As they established themselves, the family purchased property in Modesto, California, planting fruit trees, nuts, watermelons, and a giant fig tree that became a centerpiece of the ranch. Sebastian's son, Pete, grew up learning the value of honest work and eventually married Beatrice, whose own roots ran deep in California agriculture. Growing up on a fruit farm in Modesto, Bea spent long summers alongside her siblings picking, cutting, and drying peaches, nectarines, and apricots in her father's drying yard.

Together, Pete and Bea purchased a 105-acre ranch in the rich soils of Hughson, California. Surrounded by peach orchards and a community built on agriculture, they farmed peaches and watermelons, supplying local grocery stores and canneries. In 1969, Pete and Bea officially established Cipponeri Family Farms and began making early morning trips to the Alemany Farmers Market in San Francisco, California's oldest farmers market. What began as a way to share the fruits of their labor with the community became a family tradition that we are proud to continue today.

In 1983, tragedy struck when Pete lost his life in an automobile accident. Faced with unimaginable hardship, Bea, along with her four children and the support of family, carried on. Sebastian, Josephine, Nick, and Angelo learned to drive tractors before most kids learned to drive cars. Their playground was the farmers market, where they built forts out of empty boxes and helped their mother sell the fruits of their labor. Through perseverance and an unwavering commitment to family, the next generation ensured that Pete's legacy would live on.

Cipponeri Farms is now in its fourth generation of passionate and experienced farmers. Though the farm has grown and evolved over the years, the values that guided Sebastian when he first arrived in America remain unchanged. Hard work, integrity, family, and respect for the land continue to define who we are. We believe that if we take care of the land, the land will take care of us.