SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Any of us would be lucky to spend a century in this lifetime. Perhaps even better yet, any of us would be lucky to spend as much time in the produce industry as Robert Lichtenberg has. The Director of Purchasing for Earl’s Organic Produce on The SF Market has a career spanning nearly half a century, and recently announced his retirement.

According to a press release, Lichtenberg was trained while practicing French intensive organic farming methods at the Santa Barbara Institute of Bio Intensive Agriculture in Santa Barbara by a student of Alan Chadwick in the early 1970s.

For 10 years following this education, he went on to farm organically in the Sierra foothills. From 1986 to 1997, Lichtenberg worked at Star Route Farm as Warren Weber’s Farm Manager; later, he became a Sales Manager, farming in Bolinas and Thermal, California. Star Route was known for growing specialty crops for San Francisco restaurants and retail organic markets during the emergence of California cuisine.

When his tenure there ended in 1997, he joined Earl’s Organic Produce as a Buyer and ultimately became the Director of Purchasing. Lichtenberg’s long-standing commitment to the organic farming community is expected to continue even as he embarks on his retirement.

We send a hearty congratulations to Robert Lichtenberg on this news!

Earl's Organic Produce