MidWest Tour Day 2

Crop Tour Day 2 - An Unconventional Start for an Amazing Trip  

By Laura Bateman, Mac Benham, Matt Brown, & Wendy Campbell

Farm Connection

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The first stop of the day (and our tour) was at Farm Connection a family business run by Alan, Mary and their daughter Kate. They are the 7th generation of this unique A group of cows grazing in a fieldDescription automatically generatedfarm operation with organic approach to modern day farm business. Their main activity is dairy and beef cattle (double-purpose), but they also raise broiler chicken, laying hens, and pigs.

The broiler birds are free range, non-medicated and kept for 9-10 weeks. At the end of this period, the birds go to a USDA certified processer returned back to the farm store for sale. There are also around laying hens on the farm. These birds are also kept in a free-range pen with free choice laying boxes for eggs. All eggs are collected manually, cleaned, and then sold at the farm store

 

A group of people in a roomDescription automatically generatedThe dairy cattle are on a rotational grazing pasture where they raise their calves alongside still being milked in the 8-cow milking parlor. With around 50 calvings this spring and with their calf raising and milking strategy, it allows them to milk 27 cows daily. They average 3-4 gallons per day per cow. The cows will be dried off during the winter months and with the milder climate, the cows can graze for most of the year on pasture. For the short time the cows are not able to graze, they are fed a grass hay to sustain the animals in the cold. The family breed their cattle mainly focused on dairy traits but they also care about beef. With the beef cattle on the farm, it allows them to diversify even further with their products by adding beef products into the mix. The beef is also processed at a state approved facility and then shipped back to the farm store.  

Another way they diversify their farm is by finishing pigs. They purchase the pigs at 50lbs and raise them to market weight of 300lbs. These pigs are on pastures that rotate every 1.5-2 weeks.  

Overall, the Farm Connection has an interesting business model. They do no wholesale any of their products, everything is sold at either their farm shop or shipped to one of their 4 pickup locations all in Indiana. The vast majority of their customers and sales are in their home shops or one of their pickup locations in Indianapolis. Meaning, a lot of their attractions comes from urban areas, they have found a demand they can fill. At the Farm Connection, the family shows immense pride and love for their farm and animals. The decisions they make are based off of their observations and what they think is best for their animals, land and customers.  

Melon Acres

The second stop of the day was at Melon Acres in Oaktown, IN. Norm, an employee of over 30 years gave us a very thorough explanation of their business operation. Each year, 1000 acres of produce are grown for wholesale and 2000 acres are contracted for rotational crop use.  
 
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Asparagus is the first crop of the year that Melon Acres harvests (from the beginning April to the end of May). The main variety of asparagus they grow is (proudly) the OAC Millenium, a genotype bred by Dr. Dave Wolyn from the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph. They maintain fields in asparagus for 14-17 years, noting that when the field begins to decline in yield, it is time to rotate. Once harvested, the asparagus is kept cool by a machine engineered by one of Melon Acres own, prolonging shelf life before they are shipped within 3-4 days of harvest. Using a sorting machine, 12 pictures per second are taken to determine which asparagus make it to the truck and which are not fit, and to improve uniformity of the product.
 
The next harvest season that takes place is sweet corn. They grow a variety of bi-colour corn and harvest 140 acres between June 21st and July 8th. All crops including sweet corn are solely picked by hand. 
 
Between July and August, cantaloupe is harvested. Norm explained that the netting around cantaloupe holds bacteria in the fruit which can increase issues in the crop that the FDA could deem as not fit for human consumption. Due to the delicacy of this crop, Melon Acres has cut back on its cantaloupe crop to 47 acres.
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