WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Aaron Dillon grew up at Four Winds Growers and started working there when he was little.

“I have done every job in the nursery — planting, weeding, watering, deliveries, pest control, greenhouse repair, sales, customer service, production, purchasing and more,” he said. “I have been working at Four Winds full-time since 2003.”

Four Winds Growers is a fourth-generation family-run nursery that specializes in the production of dwarf citrus trees that are sold primarily to homeowners and small farmers.

“What better specifications could be written for the ideal patio plant than to take everything offered by the standard commercial citrus and dwarf it to patio size…?” wrote Floyd Dillon, the founder of Four Winds and Aaron’s great-grandfather, according to the company website.

The nursery now has 3 acres of outdoor production space and 12 acres of greenhouse production. All products start in small containers and get “shifted up” as they grow.

The list of citrus production is long. The farm propagates 82 varieties of citrus, 6 varieties of pomegranates, 15 varieties of figs, 17 varieties of olives and 7 varieties of tropical fruit trees.

The nursery also buys and grows starts and bare root trees, including 21 varieties of avocados, 11 varieties of blueberries, 7 varieties of cane berries and 56 varieties of deciduous fruit trees.

Avocados are the most challenging nursery crop, Aaron Dillon said, adding that “there is not a lot of technical information out there about avocado production in nurseries; the real learning exercise goes on over the years.”

Dillon said there are many challenges facing California agriculture, and the biggest is the cost of doing business in the state.

“Everything has become so expensive for the residents of California. Our labor rates have had to try to provide our employees with a livable wage,” he said. “The price we must charge for the goods we produce has gone up dramatically over the last 10 years.”

The costs of health insurance and keeping up with the growing number of regulations continue to increase, he said.

At the end of the day, nursery growers are farmers, Dillon said. “We aren’t always thought of as part of ‘ag’ but I am working to help tell that story and to tell ag’s story in general.”

Elected officials in Sacramento especially don’t seem to understand the challenges facing ag, he said.

“There are a lot of miscomputations about ag, so I spend a lot of time trying to help educate elected officials and regulators about ag in California and about the role that nurseries play,” he said.

With the end of California’s multi-year drought, farmers have gotten a break, Dillon said.

“The bright side of living in California has been the positive water situation that takes priority over everything else,” he said. “Without water we are doomed.”

Aaron Dillon

Hometown: Watsonville, Calif.

Occupation: Co-owner of Four Winds Growers with his father, Don Dillon Jr., and sister, Lexa Dillon.

Education: B.A. in U.S. history, M.A. in geography with a concentration in environmental planning and resource management from San Francisco State University.

Website: fourwindsgrowers.com

Quote: “Life is a constant work in progress and I do my best to try and get a little better every day. I am proud to carry on my family’s tradition of providing our customers with high quality citrus trees for use in any setting, providing excellent customer service and to advocate on behalf of the nursery industry whenever possible.”