Sep 19, 2024

Titan Farms diversifies, expands from peaches into vegetables

Since before the turn of the century, Titan Farms has been a leading East Coast grower of vegetables and peaches.

From its beginning, however, the Ridge Spring, South Carolina, grower-shipper has successfully diversified into other crops, including bell peppers, broccoli, eggplant and strawberries. Its processing division transforms culls into new markets and revenue streams.

Growing up in a military family, Chalmers Carr III at 11 years of age began working on his mother’s North Carolina family peach and tobacco farm.
After graduating from Clemson University in 1990, Carr leased and later purchased a north Florida peach farming operation. While the region’s low chill varieties produced colorful peaches, sizing was problematic, as was competition from California. Carr sold the Madison, Florida, operation in 1996 after he moved to South Carolina to work as a farm manager for the RW DuBose & Sons with a lease-purchase agreement, which he and his wife Lori Anne Carr initiated in 1999 and completed in 2001.

Not wanting to put all of his eggs in one basket, Carr, president, owner and operator, immediately began diversifying from DuBose’s peach production into peppers. Carr discovered it was difficult to obtain loans for a crop that required 52 weeks of growing expenses and yielded fruit for only 16 weeks.

Pepper expansion

In the past, Carr planted more pepper acreage, but market and quality issues caused by armillaria, a bacteria that breaks down produce, prompted Carr to withdraw from growing in the coastal and I-95 corridor parts of South Carolina.

In 2010, costs of transporting iced broccoli from California to East Coast markets opened the door for growers to enter the deal.

Because broccoli precedes and finishes after peppers, broccoli has proven to be a strong crop for Titan. About 90% of Carr’s pepper acreage is rotated with broccoli.

“It’s good for our land and it’s good for our production window,” Carr said. “What it really did for our operation was extend our harvest season. When we started farming in 1999, we were about 20 weeks a year harvesting. By adding the broccoli, we got 36 weeks of harvesting a year, which was good for labor turnover and management.”

Before adding broccoli, Titan double-cropped its peppers with watermelon and cantaloupe, but those crops didn’t fare as well in rotation.

Eggplant success

Carr began growing eggplant in north Florida. Seeing a relative successfully growing eggplant encouraged him. At one time, Carr was growing more eggplant than peppers.

“I was growing two acres of Hungarian wax pepper and squash and cucumbers, but eggplant was one of my best crops,” he said. “I love to grow eggplant.”

Because growers need the right mixture of vegetable crops, pepper and eggplant go well together, Carr said. While a grower could grow only pepper, offering a complementary crop helps market the primary crop and fits well into Titan’s system, he said.

Eggplant harvests longer than cucumbers and squash and doesn’t require multiple plantings, he said. Cucumbers require a special packing line type, while it can be difficult for growers to receive consistency with squash. With labor the way it is, a grower might have enough work for a crew on squash one week but not the next.

“We look for crops that can be very predictable and managed accordingly,” Carr said.

A more forgiving crop that’s not as sensitive to Mother Nature, eggplant can better withstand imbalances of fertilizer or similar mistakes. A grower can correct ills without devastating a crop or losing some big production gaps.

“It’s a good rotation crop and a good matchup of volume. It’s a fun crop to grow,” Carr said.

Titan’s Palmetto Processing Solutions slices, dices and freezes peaches as well as strawberries. Titan entered the strawberry deal by helping Florida growers divert strawberries during low market times to the processing plant.

Strawberry processing

In 2021, Titan began growing strawberries on 15 acres strictly for the processed market. The strawberry acreage has grown to 35 acres, which is evenly balanced between processing and fresh channels.

As registrations of some of the older chemicals have disappeared, growers need new tools to battle pests. The phenome products seem to be improving with mating disruption. To manage pests, Titan has been testing beneficials, including the testing of mating disruption.

Titan trialed the use of beneficials over four years. An easier applied application has proven cost-competitive against conventional products. Carr concluded it is easier to incorporate mating disruption that lasts long enough.

“Mating disruption-type things are going to grow in the future,” Carr said.
The family-run business also markets through three farm market stands. Because selling direct to consumers requires growers to work closely with consumers, growers gain transcends profitability. The market insights growers receive are invaluable.

Carr advised growers to carefully study the markets before planting any crop.

“Don’t just plant it and think you’re going to sell it,” he said. “Understand your marketplace and your consumers, who in today’s world are changing. The real thing is their access to information so we can’t run and hide in the shadows anymore, so to speak. Being out there and being an industry leader instead of a follower is the key. It doesn’t mean you have to be the first to do everything, but don’t be the last to do everything.”

Carr enjoys working with people, training, coaching and providing them opportunities.

“Ultimately, it’s growing anything, planting it and growing it,” he said. “There’s a lot of joy in that. There’s also a lot of frustration, but the joy outweighs the frustration. To produce something, the food and fiber that other people can’t or don’t do, there’s a lot of joy in that. But, there’s very few of us anymore.”