Robert Lower founded Flying Disc Ranch in 1979. He started growing dates nearby (leasing palms) in 1974. Robert cleared, plumbed, and planted the ranch from scratch. The rows were desert before 1979. He feels like a pioneer. Flying Disc Ranch has always been a direct market enterprise. From the beginning, we trucked our produce to food cooperatives in San Diego, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Portland. When many of the food cooperatives dissolved, we sold to health food stores and buying clubs. When they faded, we started farmers markets (our first was in Riverside, in 1972).