Northampton Growers on schedule for Michigan crops
Northampton Growers on schedule for Michigan crops
An accurate reference to Michigan’s summer crops might be “the end of the road,” in domestic produce production migration as it occurs up and down the East Coast.
It’s where seasonal grower, Northampton Growers Produce Sales Inc., headquartered in Cheriton, VA, finishes up its summer and early fall growing season before heading back southward to the Carolinas, Georgia and finally back to Florida to start another growing year.
Calvert Cullen, president of Northampton Growers, told The Produce News in mid-June that all of its Michigan plants were in the ground, the weather was, so far, good and harvesting schedules were close to or right on schedule. The company grows in the Benton Harbor region of the state.
“We’ll start moving cabbage in Michigan on June 20,” said Cullen. “Squashes begin June 25 and cucumbers are scheduled to start on June 29. Peppers and corn harvests will start on July 15.”
Northampton Growers also produces numerous other field commodities, including eggplant, onions and greens.
Asked how he can determine such precise start dates, Cullen said they are based on growing conditions and planting dates.
“An example is snap beans,” he said. “We can look at the planting schedule and we know that it takes 55 days from that date to the day we start harvesting. Of course, there’s always that potential hiccup, like unusual and inclement weather conditions. But so far Mother Nature has been agreeable in Michigan this year.”
Northampton Growers ships its fresh produce under the “Plantation” brand in Georgia and Virginia. One exception is its North Carolina crops, which carry the “Mattanuskeett” label (after its namesake lake). The company distributes throughout the eastern U.S., the Midwest and into Canada.
Cullen partners with Steve McCready, who is also the company’s comptroller. Founded in 1959, the company has evolved from a two-person operation to a staff of more than 30 full-time in-house employees.
Cullen noted that the company sticks with what it knows best. He comes from a lineage of seasoned growers, which adds to his expertise in field production.
“We will be back in the Carolinas in mid-September, and following that program we’ll move on to Georgia and then again to Florida,” said Cullen.
