HMC Subsidiary Sells Controversial California Vineyard Property

A Harvard Management Company subsidiary sold its controversial central California vineyard property in May, ending more than a decade of ownership marked by backlash and legal challenges over its water use.

Brodiaea Inc., a Delaware-based corporation owned entirely by HMC, bought the North Fork Ranch property in the Cuyama Valley in 2014. Brodiaea paid $10.1 million for the more than 7,500-acre property, developed an 840-acre vineyard, and drilled 16 wells on the land.

In May, Brodiaea sold the property to Rancho Cuyama No. 2, a Texas limited liability company. A grant deed recorded May 22 indicated a sale price of roughly $5 million. The county assessed the property at $38 million in 2025.

Harvard spun out its natural resources team to investment management firm Solum Partners in 2020, but HMC retains 100 percent ownership of Brodiaea, according to Harvard’s most recent tax filings.

Brodiaea’s presence in California drew backlash from locals and Harvard affiliates over its land and water use.

The Cuyama Valley groundwater basin is classified as “critically overdrafted,” meaning more water is withdrawn from the basin than is replenished. Under California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, groundwater basins that are being overdrawn must reach a “sustainable” balance by 2040.

The Cuyama Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency estimated in 2020 that groundwater pumping would need to be cut back by 50 to 67 percent. Brodiaea was the eighth-largest water user in the valley in 2024.

Entities affiliated with Grimmway Enterprises and Bolthouse Farms filed a lawsuit in 2021 against other landowners in the valley to determine who has the right to pump groundwater from the Cuyama Basin and how much each landowner can use. The lawsuit requires landowners to document their groundwater use and legally defend their claimed allocations in court.

Brodiaea argued that the North Fork Ranch property should not be included in the lawsuit, claiming it was located in a different water basin. But a judge declined to exclude the property from the case.

In 2016, two years after Brodiaea purchased the property, North Fork Ranch filed an application with Santa Barbara County to build three “frost ponds” — large reservoirs intended to enable spray irrigation during winter frosts. The reservoirs’ total water storage capacity would have been roughly 48 million gallons.

But Harvard faculty, students, and local property owners in the Cuyama Valley fought against the proposal, citing concerns about its potential groundwater use. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission rejected North Fork Ranch’s proposal in 2023.

After that decision, Stop Harvard Land Grabs — a student and alumni group seeking to end the University’s global farmland investments — accused Brodiaea of attempting to “undermine the livelihoods of smallholder and family farmers of the region, and profit off the climate crisis.”

Local opposition to Brodiaea’s presence in the valley has persisted since.

“They’re taking full advantage of the land and the people living in that community,” said Roberta “Robbie” Jaffe, a local farmer.

Jaffe, who co-owns the neighboring property Condor’s Hope Vineyard, has closely watched Brodiaea’s land use with her co-owner, Steve Gliessman. The two filed an appeal with the planning commission after the county initially found no serious environmental impacts associated with the proposal for the reservoirs.

“They get a zero on developing any kind of community relationship,” Jaffe said. “They get a big fat F.”

HMC spokesperson Patrick S. McKiernan declined to comment.

The Planning Commission voted to approve an exploratory oil drilling project on the property in 2024 — another project that Harvard affiliates opposed. Harvard climate activists testified against the proposal alongside local residents, arguing that the project would have adverse environmental impacts, including the possible spread of arsenic.

The deed for Brodiaea’s sale excludes the seller’s oil, gas, and mineral interests, stating that Brodiaea holds a one-third interest in the mineral rights.

Rancho Cuyama No. 2 is registered in Texas to Dustin W. Noblitt and James Ontiveros. Noblitt is the CEO of two manufacturing companies for Western equipment and apparel.

Ontiveros is a winemaker who co-founded Grapevine Capital Partners, an agricultural investment firm that managed the North Fork Ranch property. Brodiaea chief executive officer Matthew Turrentine also co-founded Grapevine Capital.

“They were trying to figure out different ways to make it work, and they finally — with the adjudication and the downturn in the market — they threw in the towel,” Jaffe said.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at mblon.50. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.

—Staff writer Graham W. Lee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @grahamwonlee.