The Beginning
Carine and Robert met under a microscope in plant morphology course at UC Berkeley (Go Bears!). The first garden they planted together was in the backyard of Robert’s house. They moved to the Capay Valley in 2015 to start Sun Tracker Farm.
Robert Hines
Robert is a Bay Area native from Redwood City and an alum of the UCSC CASFS apprenticeship. In college, Robert’s love for plants led to a passion for farming, sustainable food, and social justice. This interest led him to many adventures working in farms everywhere from Oakland, CA to Oaxaca, Mexico…only to come full circle in the Capay Valley.
In addition to farming he is a volunteer fire fighter for the Capay Valley Fire Department.
Carine Hines
Carine is a third generation farmer, who grew up to the singing of plants on her family’s farm in Southwestern France and her father’s California native plant nursery in Central California. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley in Plant Biology in 2017 and studied sunflower biology at UC Davis as a postdoctoral fellow.
In addition to farming, Carine is a Business Advisor for farms in the Yolo, Solano, and Sacramento region through Kitchen Table Advisors. She is also the Vice President for the Napa Farmers’ Market Association and a monthly columnist for the Napa Valley Register’s “Pages from a Farmer”.
Albie and Loïc Hines
You can follow all of the Hines children’s “helpful” contributions to the farm on Sun Tracker Farm’s Instagram page.
Akuna
No farm is complete without a couple farm dogs. Akuna is the farm’s Heeler/Hound mix who can outrun any jack rabbit and protects the farm.