Maine farmers shipping fresh broccoli

Maine farmers shipping fresh broccoli

By Kathryn Olmstead Swanson
November 1983

Seeking a crop that’s compatible with potatoes

Many of the potato fie1ds of Aroostook County took on a blue-green hue this year as Maine broccoli growers expanded their crop from 400 to 700 acres. Last year, most of Maine’s broccoli was processed locally for distribution as a ‘ frozen product. This year, new efforts were made to ship broccoli fresh to East coast markets. The fresh packing operation was developed by Andy Ayer of Ayer Farms in Caribou.

Andy’s father, Forest “Bud” Ayer, was one of the first potato growers in the area to experiment with broccoli during the past three years. This year he turned over the day-to-day operation of Ayer Farms to Andy, while he concentrated on marketing broccoli, as well as potatoes. Using the same brokers employed. in potato marketing, Ayer has sold Maine broccoli to buyers from Maine to Florida. In New England, Maine broccoli has been featured by supermarkets such as Shaws, Sampson’s and Shop ‘n Save. Winn Dixie, Safeway and independent stores have sold Maine’s new product to southern customers.

“Right now we’re putting up a crop for Shaw’s in Boston,” Andy Ayers said in October. “The housewife is going to see this broccoli the day after tomorrow.” He noted that the trip from California might take five or six days.

While Ayer shipped most of his 1983 crop to the fresh market, about 75 percent of Maine’s total acreage was contracted to processors. Potato Service, Inc., of Presque Isle and Interstate Foods Processors of Fort Fairfield, handled the processing of Maine’s broccoli crop.

“Broccoli will never replace potatoes,” said Andy Ayer. “Potatoes will always be our number one mainstay, but we need another crop that is compatible with potatoes. We have to broaden our base and diversify.”

“We dabbled in carrots and cauliflower, but they can’t be shipped in the magnitude of broccoli,” Ayer continued. “We picked broccoli because it can be grown easily on a large scale.” Yields were estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 pounds per acre this year, giving Maine a total production of about three million pounds. The largest portion of the crop was raised by about a dozen growers.

“We’re excited about the possibilities,” said Donald Westfall, director of the Bureau of Agricultural Marketing for the Maine Department of Agriculture. “The reports from the market are very, very good.

“We want to expand, but to be conservative in expansion. We didn’t want to rush in before we had the equipment to cool and ship the crop,” Westfall said, calling Maine growers “responsible” in their approach to the new crop. Noting that Maine can produce only one crop per year, while Western states produce three, Westfall said “we have to look carefully at where we fit into the market. Maine broccoli comes to the market when western broccoli is not available.

Westfall said western growers had been open about sharing information with Maine’s new broccoli farmers and that “Maine growers don’t want to jeopardize that relationship.”

Maine broccoli growers signed a state market order in July designating quality standards for produce shipped from Aroostook County. The order defines product characteristics to be maintained and methods of shipment to assure freshness in the marketplace.

The market order also provides for a six-member broccoli marketing committee to develop marketing strategies and establish a promotion fund.

“We are trying to establish standards early to make sure other farmers who decide to get into broccoli production will ship a quality product,” said Westfall. “Quality and freshness are our big pluses,” said Andy Ayer, a 1981 graduate of the University of Maine at Orono. He said 90 per cent of the quality control on his farms takes place “right in the field,” where cutters reject stalks that fail to meet standards of size and maturity.

“Up until that time, it’s up to the grower,” Ayer said, explaining how he manages fertilizing, pest control and cultivation throughout the growing season. .

“We’re still learning, how to grow this crop in Aroostobk,” said Aver. “It’s not like potatoes that have been grown here for years and years. Broccoli is new/: ·. Mercedes, Green Duke, Premium-Cr~ and Emperor are the varities grown on Ayer Farms. Each field is cut once or twice and Ayer reports that in the best fields he can harvest up to 95 percent of the growth in one cutting.

Tractors, tillage tools and cultivators used for potato growing have been adapted for use on broccoli. New equipment includes a Stan Hay planter and two harvesting conveyors that Ayer built himself. Twenty people work with each harvester which covers up to 20 rows at a time.

Broccoli seems to fit well into Maine crop rotation plans. Growers have worked closely with the Cooperative Extension Service and the University of Maine at Orono to develop rotation and pest control plans.

Ayer has decided on a five year rotation with potatoes and field peas. He also rotates insecticides to prevent immunity among diamond moths, root maggots and aphids. “Bugs are smart,” he observes, “they adapt.”

Ayer also built the packing line where workers pack about 5,000 pounds of fresh broccoli per hour. He bought 10 automatic bunching machines from a farm in California and workers average eight bunches of broccoli per minute to keep their jobs.

Between August and November this year, two trailers a day leave Ayer Farms packing house carrying broccoli on ice. Each trailer contains 900 cases and each case contains 20 pounds of ice and about 24 pounds of broccoli.

Current prices average 18½ cents per pound, or $8. 50 per case at the loading shed.

“You have to find something with a lot of cash potential per acre,” said Ayer. “With broccoli, it’s not inconceivable to make $800 to $1,000 per acre. We’re very positive.

“We know this will succeed,” said Ayer. “Broccoli is a growing market. With our quality and our freshness, buyers see the stuff and they say ‘Holy smoke, this is good.’