Operating a Picket Your-Own Strawberry and Pumpkin Farm

In 1984, our family moved to the Bellevue Berry Farm, just south of Omaha, Nebraska. The farm covers less than 100 acres-50 acres are irrigated and 20 remain woodland. Over one-third of Nebraska's population lives within a 25-mile radius of the farm, which makes it an ideal location for a pick-your-own berry operation.

Before heading to Nebraska, my wife Kathy, our sons Tyson and Zach, and I lived on a 214-acre farm in Maryland. Weekdays I commuted over 3 hours round trip daily to Washington, DC, where I worked as an agricultural economist for the U.S. General Accounting Office, analyzing food and agriculture policy for the Congressional Agriculture Committees. We had 65 head of beef cattle and ran a 5-acre pick-your-own strawberry operation. I farmed in the evenings and on weekends. My good-paying job helped us weather the mistakes we made as beginning farmers, economic crunches (such as the gasoline crisis), and unpredictable weather.

After much discussion, we decided to move west to be near my family. We put the Maryland farm up for sale, and to my surprise, it went quickly. Then we held an auction and sold all but our most prized possessions which included our specialized strawberry equipment (including one Cub and two Super A International Harvester tractors with cultivators and a mist blower). Keeping the strawberry equipment required us to make five round trips between Maryland and Nebraska, with friends helping us on the cross-country treks. The hardest part about moving was leaving our friends and for me, leaving my beef herd.

Our First Crop

We knew that a close-in location would be critical to the success of a pick-your-own operation. We formed a family partnership and purchased prime Nebraska bottom land near Omaha. The soil is excellent, well-drained, and moderately sloping. The climate is subhumid continental, with cold winters and summer temperatures in the 80's. The average annual precipitation is about 30 inches. But even though the land and the climate were close to ideal, the first year was far from easy. With no barns, roads, or other infrastructure, we not only had to plant a crop, but we also had to build. Priorities had to be set. Our first tasks were to plant and to establish an irrigation system. We constructed buildings during the off-season.

Because of our experience with strawberries in Maryland, we had chosen strawberries as the main crop on our new farm. During one of our first trips west in early May, my brother Jeff rounded up a crew and we planted 30 acres of strawberries it seemed like a sea to us. To establish our fields, we used certified virus-free plants, which are winter hardy and show some resistance to soil disease.

We had planned to make our final move west in mid-June, immediately after we finished our last strawberry harvest in Maryland. But it took us longer than expected to complete the farm sale, and we did not arrive in Nebraska until early July. By that time, the sea of strawberries we had planted in early May was awash in knee-high weeds the result of a wetter than usual spring. After two hard weeks of mowing, cultivating, and weed pulling, we saved our plants. The next step was to put in an irrigation system.

Establishing an Irrigation System

Strawberries require irrigation, not only to promote optimal growth but also to protect the buds, flowers, and fruit from freezing. We use 8-inch round and 6-inch round aluminum main lines; our lateral lines are less expensive 2 1/2 inch PVC pipe. Lateral lines are set down each 16th strawberry row, (our strawberries are on 40-inch row centers) providing a sprinkler every 50 feet by 40 feet. We also use the irrigation system for spraying fungicides and water-soluble nutrients. During harvest, if the temperature climbs above 85 degrees,we use the irrigation system to hydro-cool our strawberries. We run the sprinklers for 15 minutes every hour, up to four times each day.

I also use the irrigation system to protect the strawberries from frost. Any time the air temperature drops close to 33 degrees, I start my irrigation pumps and run them until the threat of a freeze is over. During frosts, we pump up to 1,500 gallons of water per minute onto the fields from a nearby creek and pond (which we dug and filled with water from the creek). Water freezes around the flower and bud of the strawberry plants and protects the plant tissue from the killing cold air. Heat is given off as the water changes from a liquid to solid ice.

Protecting strawberries from frost requires all-night vigils between April 10 and May 20. We usually have five to eight nights of frost during that period, and up to an inch of ice may cover the ground by morning. On the nights when the temperature hovers around freezing and our irrigation pumps are running, I ride the fields in a 4-wheel Honda all-terrain vehicle, making sure that the sprinklers are operating properly.

Having an irrigation system has enabled us to have good crops regardless of the amount of rain we get even during the 1988 drought when we had less than 8 inches of rainfall. Irrigation is especially important for us because we cannot obtain crop insurance for strawberries.

Cultivation

Throughout our first summer, strawberry runners were constantly being set through cultivation in order to form a solid row. Cultivation and small amounts of herbicide were used. Once the appropriate number of plants had been established, we cut off the extra runners so that we created a 12-inch to 14-inch wide band of plants. This left the pick-your-own customer with aisles of at least 2 feet in which to pick.

We use straw mulch to protect the strawberry plants during winter and to keep the berries clean. We mulch the strawberries in early December using 10 large round bales (weighing a total of 5 tons) on each acre. The bales are spread with a machine called a Big Bale Buster Haybuster, which enables one person to handle the entire operation. We have reduced pesticide spraying by mulching properly, keeping the fields free of weeds, and walking the fields every 3 days to check for pests.

Attracting Customers

Having worked all summer and into the fall growing our strawberries, we found ourselves faced with the prospect of marketing our crop. One of our primary goals was to sell everything we grow right at our own farm. But how does one sell 30 acres of strawberries? We focused our efforts on advertising and, when possible, obtaining free publicity. As harvest time neared, we hoped that the magic of the marketplace would work.

While thousands of customers found their way to our farm that season, we learned that trying to replicate a successful farm enterprise is not easy. We had tried to pattern our farm after my brother Jeff's Roca Berry Farm, located 15 miles outside of Lincoln. But our location near Omaha has a much different clientele than my brother's. Customers who come to the Roca Berry Farm are older, more rural people who pick large quantities of berries for freezing and canning. Our customers are mainly younger families with working mothers, who have little time for canning or freezing. Many are Air Force families who have little freezer space in their homes. Our customers are more interested in recreation and would rather make more trips and pick small amounts for fresh consumption.

We made a critical mistake in not knowing our market. Even though we had many customers that first year, not all of the strawberries were picked. Our yield was excellent, but we sold only about half of the 30 acres we had planted. Seeing all those berries go to waste was difficult. But we refused to get discouraged. I kept 25 acres in production and plowed under 5 acres of my poorest yielding variety. In their place, we planted 5 acres of pumpkins. Kathy began writing to schools in the Omaha area to tell them about our farm, and we were on our way to our next crop.