The Mendoza Dairy is located on 1,200 acres at the Historic B Ranch on the Point Reyes Peninsula. The first dairy in the Point Reyes National Seashore to produce milk for Straus Family Creamery, they joined as a family farm certified organic milk supplier in 2014. Fourth-generation owner Jarrod Mendoza has a herd of 210 Holstein, Jersey and Jersey-Holstein crossbred milking cows. His wife, Kayla Mossi Mendoza has local dairying in her lineage, and their children are now the fifth-generation on this dairy, nestled near the Pacific Ocean.
While studying at Chico State, Jarrod’s father Joey Mendoza reluctantly sold the dairy’s herd in 2009, vowing to return someday. Two years later, Jarrod fulfilled his father’s wishes, revitalizing the dairy with the purchase of an organic herd of 120 milking cows and quickly transitioning it into a certified organic dairy. While working part-time at the university’s organic dairy farm, Jarrod saw the positive effect organic practices had in the health and the temperament of the cows. Pesticides were never used on the land, so the pastures were already practically organic, though not certified.
The Mendoza Dairy is collaborating with the Park in creating a sustainable organic farming model within the Seashore that results in climate-positive farms that support our local organic farming and food system and benefit the surrounding rural community and the greater Bay Area. This collaboration is a critical step in our ongoing quest to create an organic farming model that is good for the planet and our communities.
