SILACCI RANCH: KEEPING BEEF ON THE PLATE

October 16, 2024 BY madison goss

In the Salinas Valley of California, known as the “Salad Bowl of the World”, a local ranching family is helping to ensure that there will always be protein on the plate.


For over 140 years, the Silacci family has called the Valley home – beginning when patriarch Bautista Silacci immigrated to Monterey County. After living in Moss Landing in the early 1880s, he decided to move inland to Salinas to work at a local dairy. In 1887, seizing an opportunity to establish roots on the land and in the industry, he purchased the dairy. Together, he and his family raised dairy cattle and cultivated various crops, contributing to the Valley’s notorious bounty.

For over 140 years, the Silacci family has called the Salinas Valley home, beginning when patriarch, Bautista Silacci, immigrated to Monterey County.
As the family grew, so did their ambitions. In 1939, they acquired an adjoining property, encompassing 9,400 acres from the Valley floor to the mountain peaks of the Gabilan Range. The area boasts seven different plant communities, including Coastal Oak Woodlands, Chaparral, and Annual Grasslands. The varying and rugged terrain was not suitable for many of the traditional crops grown in the area, so they decided to shift their operations.
The Silaccis transitioned from raising dairy cattle to beef cattle while continuing to grow crops on 300 acres of the ranch along the Valley floor. This not only diversified their income but also, through rotational grazing, provided significant environmental benefits for the local wildlife and plants, including special-status species such as the golden eagle, California tiger salamander, Pinnacles buckwheat, Tule Elk, and California false lupine.

Pete Silacci, third generation on the ranch and current co-manager, noted, “We see wildlife and a variety of plants all the time; it is just a part of being on the ranch. As much as we call this ranch a home, it is our intention [through our management] for it to stay a home for all of them as well.”

Kevin and Pete Silacci, co-managers of the Silacci Ranch

As the years progressed, the family and their ranching business prospered on the property, but they slowly started to notice a shift in the community around them.

Despite its nickname and deep agricultural roots, the Valley could not escape the inevitable growth and development happening throughout the region. In 1940, Salinas was a small town of 11,586 people, primarily populated by farm and ranch workers. Over the following decades, the area experienced significant expansion with the population soaring to 151,060 by the 2000s.

This period of urban expansion mirrors trends across California and the nation, where farms and ranches continue to disappear while being replaced by urban development. Statewide, California lost more than 465,000 acres of ranch and farmland from 2001 to 2016. And future trends look just as bleak with projected losses of nearly 797,000 acres of productive agricultural land by 2040— an area over half the size of the Salinas Valley’s 1.2 million acres of prime agricultural space.

Determined to preserve their legacy amidst urban sprawl and mounting pressures facing producers, Pete, along with his son and co-manager, Kevin Silacci, sought a lasting solution to protect their land in perpetuity. In 2023, they partnered with the California Rangeland Trust to secure a conservation easement on the entire property, ensuring its future as a working ranch and wildlife haven.

Funding to complete conservation was secured through Walmart’s Acres for America Program and through a private foundation. Acres for America is a competitive grant program administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It is dedicated to conserving lands and wildlife habitat of national significance while benefiting local communities and economies. Because of its unique location, the Silacci Ranch plays a crucial role in connecting over 27,600 acres of uninterrupted migration corridors and conserved habitat for local wildlife. This, along with the land’s ecological importance, made it a top contender to receive grant funding.

For the Silaccis, the conservation easement is not only securing prime wildlife habitat, but also helping to strengthen the future viability of their family businesses, preserve the agricultural traditions of the region, and ensure the sustainability of the land.

“Between balancing taxes, regulations, climate change and everything else, anyone in the industry is aware that it is becoming increasingly more and more difficult for landowners to maintain their property, while keeping it true to its history, and then pass property to their children,” explained Kevin. “While it is a privilege working this land, it is also difficult and hard work. By partnering with the California Rangeland Trust, we conserved the land in its natural, working state while providing an avenue for our children to keep the legacy in the family for future generations.”

As urban sprawl encroaches and challenges to modern ranching persist, the Silacci family remains resilient, as does the conserved landscape they so carefully steward. For over 140 years, they have been integral to the Salinas Valley, contributing to its agricultural bounty, upholding its legacy as a global food hub, and providing both quality crops and beef to consumers. The Silacci Ranch, with its thriving ecosystems and sustainable practices, is a testament to the Valley’s enduring role in global agriculture.

In the Salad Bowl of the World, the Silacci family ensures that beef has its place alongside the Valley’s famous produce—because, as the saying goes, “Eat beef; the West was not won on salad.”