photo credit: Suzanne Becker Bronk, courtesy of Gold Ridge Organic Farms
Apples will be processed into multiple products at the new facility in Santa Rosa.

A lifeline is coming for Northern California's struggling apple industry.

Sebastopol-based Gold Ridge Organic Farms is opening a new 20,000 square-foot organic processing facility in Santa Rosa, called the Heritage Apple Press.

The move comes at a critical time for regional agriculture, according to Gold Ridge owner and farmer, Brooke Hazen.

Manzana Products, which operated for more than 100 years in Sonoma County, is scheduled to end operations in 2027 and move to Washington State.

That move was a major factor in opening the new facility, according to Hazen.

“At first, I was waiting for someone else to step up and make something happen, but no nobody stepped up,” said Hazen. “So, ultimately I decided that someone had to, and it was going to be myself along with Gold Rush Organic Farms and my staff to do this.”

Local apple orchards and cider makers have faced a severe shortage of processing options in recent years. That's threatened the future of iconic local varieties like the Gravenstein, prized by growers like famed horticulturalist Luther Burbank.

“There's lots of different apple varieties, but primarily the Gravenstein is well known and that's something we're familiar with, but they chose that apple because it offered primarily fresh use, but also multipurpose beyond the fresh use. And we've really lost that,” said Hazen. “The industry is really flailing for decades now, and this is just the last death throes unless we can preserve it and revitalize it. And that's our goal. We do not want to lose this 150-year-old, one of the longest-standing agricultural heritages in California.”

Hazen says the goal is to give small family farms a reliable, right-sized solution to process and market their fruit. He says it’s crucial to get the word out before more apples are lost.

“Because people are pulling out orchards in Sonoma County still, apple orchards, and they're pulling out apple orchards in Santa Cruz County. We have reached out to Santa Cruz County too,” Hazen said. “Just to capture any growers that are, have given up hope and are ready to pull their apples out.”

To boost demand, Gold Ridge also plans to buy apples directly from local growers to launch its own brand of cider products.

The facility will open in time for the upcoming 2026 harvest season. Hazen says they will be able to process between 40 to 80 tons per day, ramping up to 100 tons per day by next season.

Growers and cider makers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, and in the Pajaro Valley, can find more information at GoldRidgeOrganicFarms/ApplePress