Vegetable Growers News

Lipman grows into largest U.S. operation

Max Lipman cultivated his first tomato fields in south Florida more than 80 years ago. He had no idea that his small operation would one day become the nation's largest tomato farm. After more than eight decades, Lipman Produce, based in Immokalee, Fla., has taken advantage of innovative technologies, lowered inputs and expanded acreage to include new crops, and opened growing and processing facilities in new states. Part of that growth has been fueled by a program that offers industry representatives a glimpse of how their product is cultivated. Known as Access to the Acre, the program has gained widespread popularity within the industry as an effort to provide food production transparency. "People want to know their farmers, so we took one of our farms in Florida and turned it into Lipman Vegetable Garden," said Kent Shoemaker, Lipman CEO. "It's not open to the public,…  » Read more

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New technologies changing farm marketing

When farm market guru John Stanley spoke at the 2011 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Mich., Dec. 6, one of the many things he said was that smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone, have changed farm marketing. That notion was further enhanced by a presentation by Steve Tennes, president of the Michigan Farm Marketing & Agri-Tourism Association (MIFMAT), when he announced the official launch of the Michigan Farm Market Finder application (app) for Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods. The app was a joint effort of MIFMAT, the Michigan Apple Committee, Michigan Farmers Market Association and the Michigan Cider Makers' Guild, and is free to download. "In the short time the app has been out, we've had over 1,000 downloads, according to Apple," Tennes said. "And to date, there are 337 markets and farms listed in the app. The initial investment…  » Read more

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Get a bird’s-eye view of the history of your farm

Vintage Aerial, Perrysburg, Ohio, offers a look into the past from an angle few get to see. The company specializes in digitized prints taken from aerial photographs. The photos started being taken in 1952 from a two-seater prop plane for the original company, State Aerial. The new company is storing the massive film collection of more than 25 million photos from across the country, and is working to digitize all of the old photos. "These pictures tell stories," said Lance Roper, the director of operations for Vintage Aerial. "We decided we want to preserve these photos in a digital format." Vintage Aerial's old photos were organized by box. Each box has 5,000 images in it, and there are hundreds of boxes, Roper said. While selling prints is an option, when someone requests to see a photo of a farm, Vintage Aerial digitizes all the film…  » Read more

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Drip irrigation frees up more land for Idaho growers

Onion growers are continuing to increase their reliance on drip irrigation in southwest Idaho, according to Mike Thornton, the superintendent of the Southwest Idaho Research and Extension Center in Parma. Thornton estimates that about 30 percent of onion acres in southwest Idaho, commonly called the Treasure Valley, use drip irrigation and that the number of acres is increasing at a rate of 5 percent annually. There's some real advantage to water and fertilizer use, Thornton said, and it really helps rotation because growers can go to new fields that haven't been able to grow furrow-irrigated onions before because of too much slope. Thornton said that current research is seeking to increase pest control in drip irrigation systems by testing insecticides currently labeled for foliar application use with onion. There are a couple of new insecticides labeled for foliar applications that they are presently testing to…  » Read more

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Public health concerns spur produce-market growth

Sam Shina's family owns 14 small grocery stores in Detroit. One of them could soon be part of a market incentive experiment designed to improve public health, expand sales for Michigan farmers and grow local economies. Pending federal approval, Shina's Apollo Market will become one of five independent Detroit grocery stores to test a program that uses charitable contributions to provide additional money for food stamp recipients to purchase fresh produce. "Double Up Food Bucks" was in operation last summer at 54 Michigan farmers' markets and is looking to move into grocery stores. Shina said the purchasing-incentive program "will allow us to have more produce and more variety" to offer low-income customers. Operated by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Fair Food Network (FFN), Double Up Food Bucks is designed to increase consumer access to fruits and vegetables. But it has the additional pump-priming aspect of sending a…  » Read more

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Genome sequencing furthers knowledge of pathogen

The various species of bacteria in the genus enterobacter may be painfully familiar to you. Enterobacter cloacae, the best known of the genus, is a cause of various infections, including those of the lower respiratory tract, urinary tract, skin and soft tissues, wounds and all manner of other nastiness. This indiscriminate little bug is also a cause of bulb rot in onions. To make things even trickier, Enterobacter cloacae is not a single homogenous species but rather a complex collection of speciated populations. Each species in the group is adapted to take advantage of whatever is available in its local environment. "Genetically, the E. cloacae complex is very diverse," said Brenda Schroeder, a plant pathologist at Washington State University who works on bacterial diseases of vegetable crops grown in Washington state. "Individual bacteria populations have variations due to their response to local environmental conditions. That's…  » Read more

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Ocean Mist Farms adds value to artichokes

Virtually every type of fruit and vegetable has been processed into a value-added product in recent years, as growers and processors rush to meet the rapidly growing demand for the convenience they offer consumers. But one vegetable seems to have been left out: artichokes. Ocean Mist Farms, the nation's largest artichoke grower, has filled the void with the industry's first microwaveable artichoke, a product that may help increase the vegetable's popularity while offering a new ease in cooking. The artichokes follow on the heels of demands from retailers and consumers alike asking for an artichoke that is easier to prepare. "We have received inquiries over the years from both our retail customers and our consumers for a microwaveable artichoke," said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development for Ocean Mist Farms. "Consumer research told us that many shoppers view prepping of artichokes as the…  » Read more

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Illinois farm marketer shares ideas that work

At the 2011 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO, Ken Hall of Edwards Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove, Ill., shared what he called "50 Farm Marketing Ideas that Work." Hall's farm and market have survived and grown despite tough economic times - and being basically destroyed by a tornado a few years back. "The tornado took the buildings, but it left the orchards and the fields, so we were able to bounce back quickly," Hall said. "It did take out the weeping willow tree we had at our entrance, which I wasn't that unhappy about, but our customers identified it to us, so we replanted." The best way to make your farm market memorable for customers, Hall said, is by creating the proper atmosphere inside and outside your market. Landscaping Hall suggests picking combinations of flowers and trees that set a tone for…  » Read more

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SNAP transactions can make growers more money

If you're a retail farmer you should consider accepting SNAP purchases. It's a simple, inexpensive way to potentially increase your sales. That sentence pretty much sums up Gordie Moeller's mission. The retired social worker has spent the last couple of years convincing retail growers to accept sales from the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - the contemporary term for food stamps). The way he sees it, there's no downside to doing so. Low-income families eat more healthful produce, the local economy is stimulated and growers get access to millions of additional dollars. Moeller, who lives in western Michigan's Kent County, has numbers to back up his message. His focus is his home state, but growers all over the country can accept SNAP purchases. About 60,000 families receive SNAP benefits in Kent County, benefits worth about $200 million. In 2010, only $52,000 of that…  » Read more

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