“Victoria Island Farms believes that modern agriculture can be both highly productive and sustainable.”
We Practice Responsible Agriculture. Every Day.
Responsible land stewardship is a core value for everyone at Victoria Island Farms. We pride ourselves on doing things the Right Way, even though that rarely means the easiest or most profitable way. Quality, safety and responsibility come long before profit in our list of priorities.
We live up to our own standards by engaging in responsible land management, minimizing our carbon footprint, and optimizing our water usage.
We engage in no-till farming in the majority of our fields on Victoria. Not tilling after harvests improves soil fertility while minimizing erosion, air pollution from dust, and carbon sequestration; helping to preserve our land as well as the surrounding environment.
Crop science and technological development are in our DNA. We enjoy a strong professional relationship with agricultural and educational institutions and are constantly engaging in controlled crop trials and experiments. We strive for constant improvement in our products and processes.
Farm buildings capturing the daily solar energy on the island
Solar Power on Victoria
In 2019, Victoria Island Farms completed the installation of over 1,500 Photovoltaic Solar Panels on the Island. The system now provides power for our agricultural processing buildings and the Sabbatical Labs distillery and is one of the first industrial Solar arrays on reclaimed land in the California Delta. With over 200 sunny days per year, we see Solar on Victoria as a smart business decision, a responsible investment in our environment, and a step towards our goal of carbon neutrality on Victoria Island.
Habitat Conservation and Restoration
We do everything we can to promote healthy habitat for our roommates on the island. From barn owls to blue herons to bumble bees, we aim to create a symbiotic relationship with the environment around us.
Flood irrigation of select corn fields in the winter creates important habitat for migrating bird species, mimicking the features of historical wet meadow habitat.
Our 80 miles of deep water canals create additional areas to promote biodiversity, and we have purchased and dedicated over 20 small islands surrounding Victoria Island as permanent wildlife habitat to aid in reversing carbon emissions.
Water Conservation and Purification
100% of our water comes from Sierra Nevada snow melt runoff, drawn down from the mountains by gravity. Water stops by Victoria Island on its way into the San Francisco Bay and the California Aqueduct. We have no deep wells and use no ground water.
Victoria Island was an early adopter of Drip Irrigation techniques and the vast majority of our fields are fed through underground drip infrastructure that minimizes water usage. We use infrared drone imagery and other technology to achieve optimal irrigation levels with minimal water usage.
Water enters the island from surrounding rivers through a series of large, deep canals, which split off into smaller canals connecting to our irrigation equipment. The island has been engineered for the water to flow where we need it by gravity, further decreasing our carbon footprint and disruption of the water. At the end of its journey through our canals, water merges into a large central canal where it flows back into the river near the point of entry for some of California’s largest water treatment facility intake points.
Our canals act as bioswales, water purifiers for the flow onto and off of the island. The shape of the canals and the promotion of aquatic vegetation within them removes debris and pollution from the water while it moves downhill. Water that goes on our crops flows through further filtration before hitting the field. We always aim for our runoff flowing out to be cleaner than the water that entered the island.
Preserving our Community
Victoria Island Farms is proud to support our community and is actively involved with local organizations like the Delta Protection Commission as we work together to preserve and promote the health of the Delta. The DPC strives to protect, maintain, enhance and enrich the overall quality of the Delta environment and economy with a focus on agriculture, heritage, recreation, and natural resources while remaining mindful of the importance of the Delta to all Californians.