‘He had a love for the soil.’ Valley farming visionary, innovator Joe Marchini mourned
The Merced County and Valley farming community recently lost a visionary and innovator who had a passion for agriculture.
Joe Marchini died at his Chowchilla home on Dec. 28 after a valiant fight against cancer. He was 84 years old.
“People came from all over the country to the service and rosary,” said son Jeff Marchini. “We got letters from people in Japan, Korea, all over the world. It didn’t surprise me, all the people who had nice things to say about my dad, but it was overwhelming the amount of people my father touched.”
Born on Dec. 9, 1938 in Merced, Joe Marchini grew up in Le Grand on the family farm and started his farming career at the age of 13, when he grew his first 11-acre crop of fresh market tomatoes.
Soon after marrying his wife Juliette, he purchased his father’s shares of Giampaoli and Marchini, his family’s tomato and bell pepper farming operation.
“He had a love for the soil like all farmers have,” Jeff Marchini said. “I think he loved the challenge of farming. If we had a bad crop or bad prices we’d have to go into the next year with a different game plan.”
A farming visionary
Through the years J. Marchini Farms grew many crops, including chicory, fennel, kale, frisee, fresh market tomatoes, canned tomatoes, bell peppers, different kinds of onions, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, wheat, alfalfa, corn and figs.
“He had this continuous drive to not only produce the best products in our area but around the world,” said lifelong friend Reno Martinelli. “He was innovative, he gave a lot of people jobs and he did it in a humble way.”
Joe Marchini used his ability to speak Italian to bring the radicchio seed to the United States from Italy. He began growing it the early 1990s and became one of the worlds biggest produces of radicchio. J. Marchini farms shipped radicchio to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Canada and the East Coast.
“There was his vision and then there was his passion,” Jeff Marchini said. “If he had his mind set on it, he would go full throttle.”
Joe Marchini was always trying to improve. He would try different types of irrigation, new varieties of of crops, and different farming techniques.
“He was tight with a lot of farmers,” said friend Bobby Giampaoli. “He had a vision for the future and how to grow our company. He still helped other farmers out in time of need. He was a guy with a big heart.”
Joe Marchini was instrumental in formation of the Minturn Nut Company. He had a vision of building a nut processing plant next to the Minturn Huller Co-Op. He got together with some of his farmer friends and they made it happen.
“He realized at some point he needed to start processing his own almonds so he got together with some farmer friends and started the Minturn Nut Company,” Jeff Marchini said. “We went from producing 10 million pounds of almonds to 110 million pounds.”
Love for community
With the family’s success, Joe Marchini always made it a point to give back to the community. He also loved cooking.
“He grew up in the town of Le Grand,” Jeff Marchini said. “He spent his whole life farming in Le Grand, so when it came to the community of Le Grand and Planada, we were going to give back. We’re not successful without our employees. We’ve been farming here for 70 years and we want to hire the best people and take care of them.”
Joe Marchini was diagnosed with cancer and given just a couple months to live at the age of 73. Still, he was undaunted, and lived for 11 years longer.
“He just plowed through it,” Jeff Marchini said.
Joe Marchini kept working. He would be driving out on the fields either here in Le Grand or in Watsonville up until the last couple months of his life. The Marchini family was happy to spend those extra years with him.
He built a cemetery in Plainsburg, moving his parents’ burial site. He built a new home for Juliette, his wife of 62 years, in Chowchilla.
He also built a state-of-the-art car wash in Chowchilla. “When he opened up Joe’s Car Wash in Chowchilla it was because he saw a need,” Martinelli said. “That’s how he was, if he saw a need he would find a way to fill that need and make it better.”
Joe is survived by his wife Juliette, his brothers Leonard Marchini and Richard Marchini (Judy), his children Lisa Stewart (Adam), Jeff Marchini (Stephanie), Fania Wright (Robert), 10 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
This story was originally published January 19, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
