Farming better than soccer for Valley Center company

By: PATRICK WRIGHT - Staff Writer | Saturday, July 22, 2006 11:26 PM PDT ∞

VALLEY CENTER ---- Yan Skwara has spent his whole life in and around nature. As a former professional soccer player in Germany, Skwara loved every day he earned his paycheck kicking a ball around.

On July 14, Skwara went from a love of working on top of dirt to a career working in it. The shareholders of his International Sports and Media Group, Inc. voted to switch their business from promoting and developing professional soccer in the United States to farming aloe and other plants.

It was an easy choice for Skwara when he compared the future growth of the two careers.

"Soccer isn't big enough or popular enough in the U.S.," said Skwara, 41. "Aloe is probably the best product for skin on the planet."

The new company is called U.S. Farms, Inc. Skwara and co-founder Jason Berkes, 30, want the new company to be a "one-stop shop" for all companies that need aloe vera products, from plant sellers to lotion producers. Yan and Jason met through mutual friends and thought it was a good idea to combine Skwara's knowledge of finance with Berkes' knowledge of nature.

"We are trying to go after niches in growing and farming," Berkes said.

Skwara and Berkes couldn't have picked a better time to become co-farmers. California is the number one state for both nursery and floral crop production and retail sales for the industry, according to the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers. San Diego County agriculture is an almost $1.5 billion industry, according to 2004 statistics from the county's Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures. The figure is up 8 percent from last year and the 12th year in a row the figure has increased from year to year.

"Going into agriculture is a good thing in this county," said Dawn Nielsen, deputy agricultural commissioner for the San Diego County Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures. "You could grow almost anything."

The journey for Skwara started in 1997. He founded ISMG as a way to continue his involvement in soccer from a financial side. After almost 10 years and four different chief executive officers, he wanted to do something different. Enter Berkes. The two met through mutual friends and served as the solution to the other's problem. Yan wanted out of the soccer promotion business. Jason needed an experienced finance man and established public company to raise money for expansion. The company's symbol is USFI on the "Over-the-Counter" Bulletin Board, or OTCBB.

"We are a perfect combination," Skwara said.

At first glance, the two couldn't be more opposite. Skwara prefers clean, pressed shirts and nice pants to working with a shovel. Berkes likes jeans and a nice golf shirt hanging down over his belt.

Now, the two run a 5-acre nursery in Valley Center and another 151 acres of aloe vera plants in Imperial Valley. Ideally, they would get aloe orders from major wholesale or retail chains and if they couldn't supply the orders themselves, they would coordinate with other aloe farmers to meet the order. The trick, they said, is that the wholesaler or retailer wouldn't have to coordinate the sale from a variety of growers, but could deal with just U.S. Farms.

With around 600,000 aloe plants, many might think the boys of U.S. Farms have their hands full. But they don't want to stop there and plan to become the largest domestic grower of asparagus and a major player in sugar beets as well.

One reason they could succeed has to do with a secret weapon named Darin Pines, 38. An aloe farmer for 15 years, Pines knows every aspect of the aloe plant and checks off a series of aloe uses without missing a beat. It is used as a skin lotion straight out of the plant. It could be used in cosmetics, diapers and other products that contact the skin. Surprising for a plant covered in spikes.

Not only that, it could be used in fruit drinks.

"It has medicinal properties," Pines said. "My wife's been using it for 30 years."

Skwara and Berkes are already thinking beyond aloe and asparagus. They could see growing corn for ethanol production and tomatoes.

Skwara said he is proud to be involved with U.S. Farms and it was a relief to have a partner, such as Berkes, instead of trying coordinate a business himself.

"It's not my interest to wear all the hats," he said. "This is a good company. More people invest in good companies."

Contact staff writer Patrick Wright at (760) 739-6675 or e-mail pwright@nctimes.com.

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