Andy Mariani uses innovative agricultural methods
Published in the December 9 – 22, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Photo by Marty Cheek
Andy Mariani in the store of Andy’s Orchard in northeast Morgan Hill.
At 70, Andy Mariani keeps his passion for working hard continuing the long-standing family tradition of growing the best heirloom sweet cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, and other fruits in Santa Clara County. He has a reputation in the region’s agricultural industry as a highly innovative orchardist who uses some of the latest research to develop better farming techniques.
Because of local climate change there is not enough winter cold, he said. So ever innovative, he’s experimenting with a treatment that uses an acid naturally made by trees that makes the cherries bigger and firmer.
“We’ve been doing a lot of innovation over the years,” Mariani said.
As a member of the Cherry Advisory Board’s research committee, he has been working on ways to reduce the use of pesticides. One way of doing that is they are treating the males of a natural pest that, when introduced back into the population, mates with females who then produce only male offspring.
“Eventually the population dies off,” he said. “It’s a way of producing fruit and controlling pests without pesticides.”
The youngest of three brothers, his parents encouraged him to go to college. He earned a degree in public administration and was the assistant city manager in Saratoga in 1970 and 1971.
About that time he contracted Pemhigus vulgaris, an autoimmune skin disease that causes severe blisters. He was one of three patients with the disease at Stanford Hospital. Two died, he survived.
“It took 17 years, but I beat it,” he said. The treatments took him to Austria four times — each trip lasted four months — working with a professor from the Vienna Medical School. “I was one of the few who went into total remission. Coming home to the family farm really helped during that time, he said.
“It was therapy for me. This was kind of a fun thing to do and it really assisted in my recuperation. I helped out and loved it and realized it was where I should be.”
Mariani also survived prostate and kidney cancer.
“Life deals you certain cards and you have to play them and that’s the way it is,” he said.
The Mariani family has deep roots in the Santa Clara Valley. Joseph Mariani emigrated from Europe and settled here in the early 1930s. In 1957 he purchased the present orchard. Here, in this warm, coastal valley Joseph and his family grew the finest fruit in a region known for the quality of its agricultural products.
In the beginning, apricots and prunes were grown, but cherries were added, followed by peaches, nectarines and plums. Other fruits were added by Andy, who is continuing his father’s tradition of growing fruits of distinction including heirloom and specialty varieties.
“This is a small family farm and we can’t rely on volume like a larger farm so we rely on niche market and focus on quality and different varieties of heirloom fruits (fruit that has not been sold commercially for about 50 years or more),” he said. “They are not found in local supermarkets which sells fruits that are mass produced.” The farm sells to high-end restaurants in the Bay Area, at farmers markets across the country and in their store. “We cater to customers who want the highest quality fruit.”
