Keenan Farms – Lance and Pio

Agriculture Video Production

Family owned ag business’ are what make the Central Valley great and Keenan Farms is a fantastic example of that. They’ve been around since 1972 cultivating and delivering the finest pistachios in the world. It was our job not only to capture that on a few specific days of harvest but also to set up a 6 month long time-lapse using two GH4 cameras and a number of custom designed solutions. We were able to get some great aerial shots the old school way with a helicopter and a harness and employed just about every trick in the book including a jib, DJI Ronin, Red Epic, Canon 5Dmk3 and GoPro. We got some beautiful shots and were happy to be able to tell the story of Keenan Farms.

More About Keenan Farms

Keenan Farms began in 1972 when the adventurous entrepreneur Charles Keenan purchased 100 acres of newly planted pistachio trees in Avenal, California. Knowing what we know today, no one would have questioned the wisdom of his decision but at the time, little was known about growing pistachios. In fact, until 1976 when the state produced its first commercial crop, pistachios were grown primarily only in the Middle East.

Pistachio trees generally take 6 to 7 years to begin producing which meant years of patient waiting. Growing pistachios was also an expensive endeavor. It was still unproven if this exotic nut crop native to the Middle East could even produce in California’s soil and climate…much less thrive. But Charles Keenan was truly a man of vision.

And then it happened. With their first crop in 1976 of just 500 pounds, Charles and son Robert decided to take another giant step into this new industry and invest in their own processing equipment as the nearest processing facility was more than 100 miles away. And so within the next decade, processing and marketing their production and that of other growers became an integral part of the Keenan family business.