|
We are very fortunate to live across the road from the manager of a large produce farm, Groco Farms.
Ron Guess, our friendly farmer neighbor, can often be seen leaving his house early in the morning, running all day, and still not getting in until nightfall. He is a joyfilled man, and one can tell he loves his job. His Father, Mark Guess, was one of the first managers and still works every day. Ron's son, Phillip, graduated from Wilmington College with a degree in Business Agriculture. He is now working full time at the farm and seems to be following in big footsteps. It's funny - people tend to think men are getting larger. Well when one runs into Mark Guess, in his late 70's, one will be humbled. He is a large man - they do grow them differently on the farm! A few days ago, Mr. Guess stopped to talk with us as we were harvesting our red potatoes. A friend to children, he asked the boys if they would like to come by and see the produce packing operation some time, as they would be packing zucchini and cucumbers. I finally took the children today to learn all about how produce goes from ground to store. So here's the story:
After planting, migrant workers come in and are housed about one mile from our home in apartments specifically built for the workers. SThen, in the early hours, they are off to pick - Yes! handpick. The workers are transported to the fields by an old school bus! A tractor goes down designated rows and there is an arm on each side of the tractor. It has a pulley system - a conveyor belt of sorts. In front of each worker is a large basket. It sits lower than the belt. Once the bucket is filled it is placed on the conveyor belt that moves toward the trailer the tractor is hauling. There are two men, one for each side, that picks up the filled buckets from the conveyor belt. They walk to the back of the trailer and dump the produce. Sometimes when it gets busy, they have an assembly line between the men. Ever heard the expression "Back breaking work"? Well, this is the source of the saying. The men bend over all day picking. They have to be quick because the tractor moves forward at a pretty steady clip. Once the trailer is filled, the tractor will unhitch and my neighbor (or another worker) will hook-up and drive the produce to the packing shed a few miles away.
Once the produce arrives, it is driven into the 'shed'. It pulls up to a docking station where a large pipe hangs overhead. A worker will then open the pipe and water begins pouring out. A tiny door in the side of the trailer is opened and water will start filling up and pushing out the produce onto the conveyor belt. The belt will run right into a large water shoot. The water was at 47 degrees F when we were there! It takes off the 'field heat' and cools the produce so that they don't sweat as much in the large trailer trucks. Besides, then water is used to cool the produce, not as much energy is consumed compared with air conditioned tractor trailer beds. Once the produce is washed and cooled as it is moving along the shoot, it goes onto the belt again. It is sprayed off once more and then a film of wax is sprayed onto the vegetables. After this, the produce is pushed onto the conveyor belt where there are 15 or so workers standing waiting to receive the produce. There are two belts, each moving in opposite directions. The produce is picked according to size, which is length in this case. If the produce is smaller than a specific measurement it is picked by the 'small' packers. If it is larger, than the 'medium' packers will pick it up. Trash (debris from the field) is placed in a belt on the bottom along with any produce that is marred, chipped, or cut in anyway. No produce is sold as seconds. Phillip explained that there is no market for seconds. And they have a great deal of seconds. So, all of the vegetables that don't make the grade are placed on the bottom belt where it is moved into a chopper and is chopped up into waste. I should have asked where it goes from there but it slipped my mind.
The operation even has a box building machine where flat boxes are opened and the bottoms are closed down. The boxes travel across a conveyor belt traveling above the packers. When I was a youth, I remember making boxes from the flats with my church youth group. It took a while and we were often riddled with cuts on our hands and arms by the time we were finished. We made them for a local fish company that packed cold fish. It sure did smell up in the loft where we made the boxes! So, it was neat to see a machine do it. Once the boxes are packed two men pick them up from the packers and place them on flats. Once the flats get so high, they are twined and then Mark (Grandpa Guess) picks them up with the forklift and transports them to the holding warehouse where the semi-trailers pull-up to receive the produce.
If you look closely, you can read "Ron's Pride". Yes, that is indeed named for my neighbor Ron Guess.
And there is Ron himself. Not wanting to startle him with a close up picture (why would I be taking it anyway?! I see him everyday!), I took this as he was driving away! Non-bloggers just wouldn't understand...
So that is how produce gets from ground to store! Pretty amazing! And it is all happening within 2 miles of my house. All the fields are local- they are packing cucumbers right now. In a few weeks, eggplant and peppers will be picked and packed. That would be fun to see! And as a side note, zucchini are very perishable in the packing world, so they get packed first. Cucumbers are thicker skinned and heartier so they are packed after the zukes. If I think of anything else we learned, I'll add more information!
|
Comments
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by Sarah