With the mix between extreme heat and too much rain over the summer, it was a difficult season for Michigan’s celery growers. “It was probably one of the toughest years. We had high temperatures in July with extremely dry conditions so growers were struggling to keep up with irrigation and they did the best they could,” said Dan Steenwyk of Hearty Fresh.
Resulting crops were small; they grew very little over the month of July. In August, Steenwyk says growers were hit with a lot of rain. “We had one grower who received about 5” of rain overnight in august and it really set him back.” Not all of their growers were affected with heavy rain, however. Hearty Fresh works with four growers, one of which is Steenwyck’s father’s farm. All are part of the Michigan Celery Co-op. “I know first hand how the season went.” The season itself wraps up October 15.
Currently most growers are covering contracts with what produce they have. Some growers are even covering contracts for others if they happened to produce more celery supply. “In a year where the markets were pretty poor it was probably the year for us to have issues,” said Steenwyk. If area growers were able to achieve regular yields he feels they could have seen $5 - $6 sold. “But because yields were way off we were able to hold an open market of $9-$10 and most was sold on contracts.”
In addition to celery, Hearty Fresh also deals with growers of cucumber, peppers, zucchini squash, hard squash, acorn and butternut squash, sweet corn and custom packing, as well as a large onion packing and shipping market. “We don’t grow pumpkins but we market them for some growers. We stayed busy even though celery was down.”
For more information:
Dan Steenwyk
Hearty Fresh
Ph: 616.878.4100