Meet a Harvester, Kate Hitchcock 

By Evelyn

Kate Hitchcock’s office is her truck. As a harvester, and the woman in charge of organic baby bok choy trials for Earthbound Farm, she is out and about a lot, driving to different fields to check on the crops. She loves the constant change of scenery and being a steward of the land. 

Kate grew up on a farm and is the fifth generation of her family to call Salinas, California home. She graduated with a degree in finance from Santa Clara University, and worked in sales at Earthbound Farm for several years before returning to her roots. 

“I have so many fond memories of riding around with my dad. Little did I know—I think it was to give my mom a break from babysitting,” she says with a laugh. But that didn’t change the fact that farming is in her blood, and her desire to explore that pathway led her right back to what she grew up knowing and loving—working on the farm. 

She doesn’t like to call herself a farmer, instead calling herself a harvester. She is quick to give the farmer title instead to Danny Saites, who she says “makes it all possible” from a farming perspective. But whether she wants the credit or not, she is an integral part of the farming operation in her own right. 

One thing her dad has always told her is to be open-minded. “He always told me, don’t be afraid to ask questions and bring new ideas to the table,” she says. She has taken this advice to heart. In walking through the grocery stores, she realized there was no organic baby bok choy and thought there might be a market for that.  

She started asking around, and this led to one of the most exciting projects she’s currently working on—managing the organic baby bok choy trials. There are more than ten varieties of bok choy, all with unique properties.  

She contacted a seed company, and then planted several different varieties to test for large-scale organic farming. Her job with the trials is to figure out which varieties have the most appealing shape and color to consumers, are the most uniform, the perfect size, grow year-round without going to seed, are the easiest to harvest, stay fresh the longest on the shelf, and—of course—taste the best. 

This takes a lot of patience, tenacity, and organization. The plants don’t grow overnight, and she has to keep a close eye on them to see how they’re performing. At the same time, while she’s waiting on the results from one crop, she is testing others. She is growing multiple varieties of bok choy year-round to find the absolute best crop to take to market. 

The exciting news is that the baby bok choy trials are bearing fruit—so to speak. You can already buy baby bok choy at your local Whole Foods market.

Kate has been in farming for over ten years of her adult life, but she is still learning and growing. She says she will never be an “expert,” as there are always things to learn. There are constant challenges with weather, new technology, ever-changing industry standards and more. 

However, she’s excited to see what the future will bring, and is hopeful—not only that organic baby bok choy will be enjoyed by many, but also that organics in general are made affordable and accessible for everyone.