40th Anniversary Farm Visits & Grower Profiles
by Lynn Byczynski
In observation of Johnny's 40th anniversary, we are celebrating the intelligence, integrity, and spirit of ingenuity of our core customers. Throughout the year, we will sharing an in-depth look at leading growers' overall operations, covering aspects of the grower's business such as distribution channels, crop selection, growing practices, business model, and agricultural trends. In Farm Visits, we highlight the way a customer grows a specific crop, or uses a specific tool, or plans for, grows, and harvests in a unique or especially interesting way. In Grower Profiles, we look at the entire operation of a specific grower. Join us each month this year, as we visit with and share the insight of today's growing leaders in the field.
May 2013 Grower Profile
Pleasant Valley Farm, Argyle, New York
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For 25 years, Paul and Sandy Arnold have been steadily but sustainably adding and expanding, year after year. The Arnolds' financial success and history of innovation has made Pleasant Valley Farm an admired and highly studied market farm. Paul and Sandy are frequent presenters at conferences and they have hosted countless farm tours. They've mentored many apprentices who now run their own farms. One of their goals is to help other farmers become more profitable, whether they are just starting or have years of farming experience. They recently took time out to catch us up on the latest developments at Pleasant Valley Farm… |
April 2013 Farm Visit
Mark's Melon Patch, Dawson, Georgia
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Mark Daniel started his melon business in his junior year of high school, growing 5 acres of watermelons on his family's row crop farm in southwestern Georgia. He set up a pile of watermelons under a pecan tree on the side of a busy state highway and called his business Mark's Melon Patch. To a 17-year-old, the money was great. Thirty-two years later, Mark's Melon Patch is still located under that same pecan tree, but it's a much different operation. He now has a permanent market that is open year-round. He still grows melons, and lots of them, but he now has 70 acres in production of a wide array of crops including sweet corn, watermelons, cantaloupes, blueberries, okra, peanuts, pecans, and pumpkins. |
April 2013 Grower Profile
Louie's Pumpkin Patch, Skövde, Sweden
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Although many growers face the problem of building a market for their products, Louis Lehmann had a greater obstacle than most. His favorite crops were completely unfamiliar to most consumers and barely even grown commercially. But through enthusiasm and perseverance, aided by changing demographics, he now has a market where there once was none. The crops in question are actually American favorites — pumpkins and winter squash. Louie grows them in Sweden, where he moved from the U.S. in 1972 to work as a plant breeder of cereal crops. He and his wife, Myra, and their daughter have continued to live in Sweden since then. |
March 2013 Grower Profile — Living Water Farms, Strawn, Illinois
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Denise and Kevin Kilgus started gardening when they were married 30 years ago. Over the years, their efforts ranged from a backyard garden for their family of eight children to a collaboration with other local growers supplying a local grocery store. About 5 years ago, assessing the amount of work they were doing in the garden, the Kilgus family decided it was time to either get serious about market farming — or give it up. They got serious. Today they operate Living Water Farms in Strawn, Illinois, which consists of 9000 square feet of hydroponic greenhouse production. |
February 2013 Farm Visit — Circle Fresh Farms, Denver, Colorado
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Our February Farm Visit was with a grower consortium based in Denver, Colorado. Circle Fresh Farms has developed an innovative marketing arrangement in which regional farms work together to provide year-round availability of certified-organic, hydroponic-greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce. Thanks to its success in the Denver metro area, Circle Fresh Farms is thinking about taking its model to at least two other cities later this year and expanding from there. |
January 2013 Grower Profile — Freedom Farm, Freedom, Maine
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Our first Grower Profile highlights the work of Daniel Price and Ginger Dermott, owners of Freedom Farm, in Freedom, Maine. They share with us their expertise in growing chiles and sweet peppers, some insights into how they've developed their distribution channels, and their advice to aspiring growers. |
Lynn Byczynski is the editor and publisher of Growing for Market and the author of Market Farming Success, The Flower Farmer.
