Organic dairy producer uses farm for 'agritainment' and history

Farmer Tony Azevedo stands next to a real Union Pacific 737, his museum's main attraction and one of the last surviving American 4-4-0 steam locomotives in the United States.

Merced County dairy producer Tony Azevedo knows how to entertain, and for the past 17 years, he and his wife, Carol, have been making a business of it by combining agricultural history with a unique country setting to entice visitors onto their ranch.

Although his main passion is his organic dairy farm, Azevedo said the Double T Acres Ag Museum, located in Stevinson, has been a good source of income that's allowed him to continue farming.

"It's called agritainment," Azevedo said of his alternative enterprise. "It's a way to bring people back onto the farm."

The museum is located on his home ranch, which features a Victorian-style house. Everything else has been stylized to resemble the Old West. When tours are not scheduled, the property is mostly rented out for events such as weddings, reunions, parties and other activities, providing the museum its main bread and butter.

Except for the barn, which provides space for a bar and indoor socializing and dancing, all the buildings were newly added. The farm also features an aviary and garden, an area often used for weddings.

Most of the museum's artifacts, including a collection of horse-drawn carriages, farm equipment and other agricultural paraphernalia, were salvaged from the San Joaquin Valley region. The museum's main attraction is a Union Pacific 737, one of the last surviving American 4-4-0 steam locomotives in the United States.

With so much agricultural history around him, Azevedo reached into the past to bring a more sustainable approach to his own dairy operation and became one of the first dairy producers in the San Joaquin Valley to become certified organic more than 10 years ago. The change, he said, has allowed his farm to be more profitable and inspired his children to come back and work on the farm.

"Organics isn't new," he said. "It's actually going back to how my father and grandfather dairied."

And because his dairy is now more sustainable and profitable, that has allowed him to devote more time to the museum and educating people about not just agricultural history but where their food comes from.

"One of the philosophies that I have is to connect people who don't have the opportunity to go to a farm to come out to a farm," he said. "We have to connect these people so that they see what we're up against in order to produce food. Farmers need to connect with the public and make them aware of what it takes to produce food."

(Ching Lee is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)