Nav Athwal (left) and his father Sarbjit Athwal (right) are apricot growers in Westley, California. The family runs Trinut Farm Management, Inc. and have been farming in Northern California for over 30 years. When they purchased their first apricot orchard in 2004, they joined our agricultural cooperative and have been members ever since.
Sarbjit and his wife emigrated to the United States from India in 1973. His ancestors have been farming for thousands of years and how he put it, “dirt is in our blood.” Although the opportunity the United States had to offer is what allured him to this country, he knew he wanted to continue the roots of his ancestors in farming as a first generation American farmer. When first arriving to the country he worked odd jobs until he could save enough money to fuel his “love for the dirt” and purchase his first piece of agricultural land; 20 acres of grape vineyards in Stanislaus County. While working at Proctor & Gamble, he continued to purchase more farmland and expanded his portfolio to almonds in 1989 and apricots in 2004. The Athwal Family continues to farm apricots, almonds, and pistachios in the Stanislaus, Merced, & Madera counties with over 3,000 acres combined.
In 2018, Sarbjit’s son Nav Athwal, left his career as a lawyer in the Silicon Valley to join his father in the family farming business. Nav loves being able to partner with his father who brings the “old school wisdom” in conjunction with his ideas for some of the more modern technologies to optimize their farming outputs for a successful crop. Nav enjoys the nature of being outdoors and in the orchards for his new line of work compared to his previous more pedestrian mode of being office bound.
The family looks forward to the future to continue to grow their footprint as California farmers and are excited to be cultivators of the food the world eats. The Athwals’ have a strong will and passion towards farming; two characteristics needed to be successful in today’s agricultural industry. Nav is excited to work alongside his father with the hopes of carrying the torch of the family business and being able to pass along the family’s farming business for generations to come.