ALBA owns and operates two training and education farms in rural Monterey County:
For event reservations: Reservation Request Form

The Rural Development Center (RDC) is located on a 110-acre organic farm between Salinas and Chualar, and serves as ALBA headquarters, with recent additions including a resource center and classroom, maintenance workshop and produce cooler and distribution facility. The Salinas farm is home to the Small Farm Education Program where beginning farmers learn about organic farming, business planning and marketing. Typically, more than 16 farmers cultivate more than 50 different crops at the RDC. During their tenure here, we help the farmers establish and transition their small farm businesses to other locations.

The Rural Development Center is located at 1700 Old Stage Road, Salinas, CA 93908

ALBA/Rural Development Center DIRECTIONS – From southbound Highway 101 just south of Salinas, turn left (east) on Potter Road.

At the "T" intersection of Old Stage Rd, turn right (south) and proceed 7/10 mile to our driveway on the right at 1700 Old Stage Road. Turn into the driveway and proceed nearly one mile, take the curve to the right, and proceed to the office/classroom building.

If traveling from the south on Hwy 101, proceed three miles north of Chualar and turn right on Potter Road. Follow directions above.

The Farm Training and Research Center, also known as the Triple M Ranch, is located in northern Monterey County. This 195-acre farm (60 acres of which can be cultivated due to a natural lands easement) demonstrates soil, water and habitat conservation in the environmentally sensitive Elkhorn Slough watershed. The farm hosts many workshops and field days every year. Local Latino farmers lease land here in order to learn new strategies that can be adapted elsewhere–sometimes on leased land that they manage elsewhere. By creating more diverse market options, ALBA is opening new opportunities for farmers in northern Monterey County, where more than half speak Spanish as their first language.

In order to get a map to the Farm Training and Research Center, located at 420 Hall Road, Las Lomas 95076

TRIPLE M RANCH DIRECTIONS – The dry-season driveway is south of the Sill Road intersection, at 420 Hall Road just east of Las Lomas. Drive carefully through the low area and veer left at the "Y." Proceed about 6/10ths of a mile to the ALBA office, which is in the green farmhouse located up a short driveway to the right.

From Highway 1 (all-weather):

1. Turn onto Salinas Rd. (intersection is 3 miles south of Watsonville, 4.5 miles north of Moss Landing)
2. Veer Right on Werner Rd.
3. Turn Right on Elkhorn Rd (stay left and it becomes Hall Rd)
4. Go through Las Lomas and proceed 1.3 miles to Johnson Road.
5. Turn onto Johnson Rd.
6. Turn Right onto McGinnis
7. Turn Right onto Live Oak and proceed 600 feet to a curve.
8. Where Live Oak curves to the left, proceed forward, stay right, and enter the dirt driveway. Note the sign for Triple M Ranch.
9. Continue forward, through trees and past the horse ranch, to the green ALBA farmhouse office.

From Highway 101 southbound:

1. Turn onto San Juan Road (at the Red Barn, 3.2 miles south of the exit for Hwy 156 East)
2. Proceed almost 2 miles and turn left onto Tarpey Road.
3. Proceed forward on Tarpey (it become Hall Road) for 2.3 miles to Johnson Road.
4. Follows directions above starting at Step 5 (above)

From Highway 101 northbound:

1. Just north of the Hwy 156 West exit, take the San Miguel Canyon Road exit.
2. Proceed 4.5 miles to stoplights at the intersection with Hall Road.
3. Turn left onto Hall Road and proceed 0.7 mile to Jonson Road
4. Follow directions starting at Step 5 (above)

Lighthawk Images of ALBA’s Farms. The following links lead to large photos of the Rural Development Center and Triple M Ranch. These photos were taken by Lighthawk as a project to inform the Environmental Grantmakers Association about the importance of Marine Protected Areas and the connection among land and ocean in our region of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Lighthawk conducted this work in partnership with the Ecological Farming Association, Wild Farm Alliance and Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

Rural Development Center (4.92 MB jpg file) – This view of the farm looks north toward Salinas. The farm borders are easily identified by the vegetation (hedgerows) not found on neighboring properties. The farm’s numerous native plant hedgerows and diverse organic vegetables present a stark contrast to the other fields. At the center of the photo is the ALBA headquarters and historic barn, with the Demonstration Garden and machine shop to the right.

Triple M Ranch (4.85 MB jpg file) – This view looks west, with Hall Road in the center of the image, and the Elkhorn Slough and Monterey Bay in the background. The Triple M Ranch is to the left of Hall Road, easily identified by the diverse fields that contrast with properties on the right. The Carneros Creek riparian corridor, located between Hall Road and the ALBA farmers’ fields, is the primary freshwater tributary to the Elkhorn Slough. The creek will be the site of a major wetlands restoration organized by ALBA to improve water quality in the Elkhorn Slough.