D’Ottavio Farms expanding wet veg program

For decades, the family-owned D’Ottavio Farms has been a trusted name working with New Jersey produce.

So far in 2023, the season is shaping up nicely, according to Michael D’Ottavio, president of the Vineland, NJ-based company.

“We could not ask for better weather this spring — cool temperatures early in the season for lettuce then warm weather to help with pollination in the blueberries,” he said.

As D’Ottavio Farms continues to increase its acreage organically and conventionally at its blueberry farm, the company has also decided to acquire another 350 acres of land to help meet the increased demand for wet vegetables such as romaine, leaf lettuce, Boston, escarole, chicory, cabbage, parsley, dill, cilantro, kale, Tuscan kale, Swiss chard, bunch beets, collards, bok choy and baby bok.

“A big focus on this farm will be romaine hearts,” D’Ottavio said. “It’s new to us and to the area, but we feel there is a strong demand for them locally. We invested in a harvester that allows us to cut, wash and pack in a controlled environment to eliminate any sand from the finished product.”

Additionally, on the company’s homestead farm, it will also have additional acreage of Bell peppers, poblanos, jalapenos, red fresnos, Anaheims, serranos, yellow hots, shishitos, red Shepards, habaneros, long hots, Cubans, eggplants, Indian eggs, Italian eggs, Dominican eggs, pole cucumbers, green and yellow squash, acorn, butternut, spaghetti and delicata squash.  

“New for this year’s planting schedule will be red and yellow Bells, both in a display ready box, and blackberries along with seedless watermelons,” D’Ottavio said. “Our goal as a vertically integrated grower, wholesaler and trucking company is to give our customers the ability to load all their needs at one farm.”

Plus, thanks to a large diversity of products and its ideal location to so many major cities nearby, D’Ottavio Farms can harvest, precool and have product to customers that were harvested only hours before.

“My son, Anthony D’Ottavio, has developed a good following for herbs such as basil, thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, oregano, tarragon and chives,” D’Ottavio said. “Seeing how well the conventional herb program has worked for him, he decided to plant 15 acres of organic herbs for this season. Adding our fully automated irrigation system along with planting on plastic to eliminate weeds, he plans on having top quality organic herbs by mid-June.”

With the highest level of food-safety, state-of-the-art precooling, full traceability and its own dedicated trucking company, D’Ottavio Farms can ensure customers that it is supporting a fifth-generation farm that will always stay ahead of all industry changes.”