Photos: California’s San Benito County rejects fracking

Josh Jensen, owner of Calera winery, was a supporter of the fracking ban. He was concerned about fracking’s effects on water quality. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Nov. 29, 2014 4:55 AM PT

An unusual coalition of teachers, cattlemen and organic farmers in California’s tiny San Benito County withstood a torrent of political ads and a multimillion-dollar campaign paid for by oil companies and said no to fracking.

Third-generation cattle rancher Joe Morris of San Juan Bautista is a member of the Farm Bureau, Cattlemen’s Association and the Chamber of Commerce, but he differed with the groups, supporting the fracking ban. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Cattle rancher Joe Morris, left, and his assistant round up two of his grass-fed bulls on his land as workers lay irrigation pipes for organic farming on the adjacent land. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Margaret Rebecchi and her son Tomas were instrumental in getting the Latino voters to support the measure to ban fracking. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

As fog locks in the hillsides, farmworkers tend to the fields in San Benito County. Eighty percent of the land there is devoted to agriculture. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Chickens roam free on Paul Hain’s organic ranch. He was a supporter of the fracking ban, which was the result of a homegrown effort. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A campaign poster against Measure J remains on the side of a barn in Tres Pinos after the election. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)