On Aug. 19, Tom Sheppard, president of Eastern Fresh Growers Inc., in Cedarville, NJ, told The Produce News that some areas of New Jersey had rough weather during the fall growing season, but that the company was spared nearly all of it.

“We were literally skirted by the bad weather,” said Sheppard. “Growers in numerous areas around us got hit with one weather condition or another, but we were completely spared. Weather overall has been good for us, especially in comparison to last year when we got hit with early rains. Prices and yields are both pretty good. Prices in August aren’t typically great, but overall we can’t complain this year.”

Margaret Sheppard, daughter of Tom Sheppard, president of Eastern Fresh Growers, proudly displays the new asparagus box she designed for ‘dear old dad.’Eastern Fresh has a strong fall asparagus program, which it continually increases its acreage on as demand dictates. It has backed its strong growth in the item with a new high-graphic box that was designed by Sheppard’s daughter, Margaret Sheppard, who works in advertising. The box was launched last year.

“Our asparagus in the new box is doing great, but when we first introduced it some people questioned us wanting to know if it meant that the product was different quality,” explained Sheppard. “We’ve had to assure them that it’s the same great asparagus, just a new great-looking box. Margaret also designed a pepper, cucumber and place-pack pepper box design for us, and I’m thinking that we’re going to have to start using the new design for all of our products.”

He added that Margaret has done a great job “for dear old dad” with her exceptional graphic and design talents.

Sheppard’s son, Alex Sheppard [see Generation Next story this edition], is an engineer who currently works for Case New Holland Industrial, headquartered in New Holland, PA. But he works closely with his father and uncle in matters especially related to engineering. He plans on working at his family’s business after completing a five-year plan to gain outside work experience.

“Alex and my nephew look into new types of equipment, such as asparagus sizing machines,” said Sheppard. “We consider investments on what they view as being more efficient types of equipment for our company.”

Eastern Fresh Growers is in its fifth year in its new 28,125-square-foot packing facility. The packing area is temperature controlled and the product and employee flow is optimized for food safety. The building includes an 8,375-square-foot mezzanine, a 2,000-square-foot employee break-room, 2,000 square feet of office space and a 1,650-square-foot utility area. Sheppard said that the building is a larger version of the company’s packinghouse it built about eight years ago.

“We were very satisfied with its design, and so we used the same basic footprint in the new building,” he noted. “The new building is used for cucumbers and it is equipped with an electronic pepper line. It is fully refrigerated to provide an unbroken cold chain in a sealed and insulated environment.”

Eastern Fresh Growers is a multi-generational family farming operation that was started in the late 1600s. It has a long history selling for Jersey Legacy Farms in Cedarville, which is owned by Sheppard’s brother, David Sheppard. Besides marketing its own acreage, Eastern Fresh also sells for Laning Brother Farms, Sorbello & Wheeler Farms and Hensel Farms. It also works with North Carolina growers for lettuce destined for processing. Grower-partners there are Tull Hill Farms and Fresh Pik Produce. It also sells for Coleman Farms in Elmer.

The company also handles organic produce for Jersey Legacy Farms, which also employs David’s daughter, Michele.

“We are now packing organic vegetables for my brother’s farm,” noted Sheppard. “We moved his equipment into our house when his lease was up because it made more economic sense.

“We’re able to handle the organic produce in the same packing house where we handle the asparagus, but the seasons are separate and so we just go in and replace all of the equipment to maintain the organic status,” he added.

Eastern Fresh’s fall line includes cucumbers, peppers — which are picked continually to the middle of October and it was planting fall Romaine in mid-August, which will be harvested through the first of November.

Eastern Fresh also sells a lot of leaf items to bagging companies which have rigid food-safety requirements.

“We don’t rest on our laurels for long,” said Sheppard. “We are constantly looking at ways to improve our facility in ways that will increase efficiencies and improve what our customers receive.”