Raymond Badger moved to Rancho Santa Fe in 1923 to manage the budding town’s 8,000 acres of virgin farmland. The many clay soils of the Ranch were a challenge he took head-on. After some experimentation, orange trees took over the landscape.

His son, Chuck Badger I, discovered a way to take lemons to market during the off-season, and the growing number of luxury homes in the town became interspersed with gorgeous lemon groves.

Over the past two decades, the citrus market has encountered increased pressures that instilled a newfound sense of innovation in the Badger family. Today, Chuck Jr. and Chuck III are replacing aging lemon trees with novel specialty crops.

Coffee is by far the most exciting.

As some of the first San Diego county coffee growers, the Badgers are committed to the thriving of agriculture in the town they’ve served for a century. The coastal hills of Rancho Santa Fe provide a mystical microclimate ideal for growing coffee with complex flavor profiles. Take a drive through the winding roads in the early morning and you’ll see the mist blanketing the ancient citrus groves, towering Eucalyptus trees, and entire hillsides of native habitat. And now for the first time, coffee trees also get the pleasure of flourishing in this hidden gem of a town.

https://www.rebadgerandson.com/