Carine’s roots in farming spread far into the past, and continue to grow into the future. Carine grew up in both the Central Coast of California as the daughter of a nursery grower in Watsonville as well as in the southwest of France on her mother’s family’s dairy farm. Her childhood was spent playing in haylofts, milking cows, and propagating baby plants at the nursery.

From a young age, science played an important role in Carine’s life, leading her to eventually receive a doctorate in Plant Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley. Her time in academia was spent studying circadian rhythms in plants such as sunflowers and their interactions with the environment.

In 2015, Carine and her husband Robert started Sun Tracker Farm in Yolo County’s Capay Valley. Sun Tracker is a small organic farm that implements regenerative farming practices to grow annual fruits and vegetables, and raise pastured poultry. Carine’s heritage in farming, passion for plants, and commitment to creating a more environmentally sustainable and socially just food system are what inspire her to be a farmer and a Farm Business Advisor with Kitchen Table Advisors. 

Carine loves to write about the farming experience; she has published in the New York Times and her monthly column for the Napa Valley Register, “Pages from a Farmer.” Among the many hats she wears, Carine’s favorite is being a mother to two beautiful boys who join her everywhere from harvesting melons, to selling at the farmers market, and exploring their backyard creek.