EXETER, Calif. — Farmer Ramon Rojas says that while growing up he experienced the best of “both worlds.”

“I spent half of the time at the farm and farmers markets and the other half living in suburbia,” he said. “My father, Ramon Rojas Sr., started Rojas Family Farms in 2010.”

In the 1980s, Ramon’s family immigrated to the U.S. to escape the political situation in his native country, El Salvador.

Over time, Ramon Sr. acquired 100 acres of farmland.

It’s a family operation. His dad; mother, Sonia; three sisters; two brothers; and several aunts and uncles are involved in the farm.

Forty seasonal workers are also considered family, he said.

Tulare County farm advisers help them decide which crops and techniques work best for the local conditions. For soil fertility, they use a combination of cover crops, compost, manure, natural amendments and synthetic fertilizers. They use a variety of methods to combat pests and rarely use synthetic pesticides.

The family grows baskets full of fruit — apricots, grapefruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, nectarines, oranges, peaches, persimmons, pomegranates, pomelos, plums and tangelos — depending on the season.

They sell the produce all over the Bay Area — San Francisco, San Rafael, San Jose, Oakland and other locations.

In the summer, mango plums are the most popular fruit. Donut peaches are the most unique. They are fun to look at it — due to their shape — and fun to eat, he said.

“The Rojas family has been part of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market for 30 years, bringing their delicious tree-ripened fruit year round, grown and harvested with warmth and care,” said Brie Mazurek, communications director of Foodwise, which sponsors the market in downtown San Francisco.

“We love seeing Ramon, as the next generation, taking on a larger role on the farm,” she said.

The family has been especially welcoming and supportive of the Foodwise Kids field trip program, engaging San Francisco elementary school students in fresh produce at the Thursday market.

Ramon acknowledges that there are challenges to farming in California.

“I feel the lack of consumer knowledge is the biggest challenge because people don’t realize how much work goes into running a farm,” he said.

Then there’s the fact that farming is a gamble.

“Farming is really a gamble because as time goes on the weather is getting more unpredictable,” he said.

“People tend to compare our prices to the prices in the store,” he said. “We are not a corporation or a big store, we are just a family trying the best we can to produce healthy, clean, and delicious fruit.”

Customers are starting to realize that the quality of the produce at the store doesn’t compare to the quality at a farmers market, he said.

“We can’t stress enough how much we appreciate each and every customer that supports our farm,” Ramon said. “I hope the reciprocation of appreciation only grows as more people begin to shop at farmers markets.”