Buurma Farms Inc. has fast start

Crops are right on schedule for Willard, Ohio-based Buurma Farms, said Loren Buurma, partner.

The supplier has been shipping since late May, mostly radishes, turnips, mustard greens, collard, kale and cilantro, he said. Early June volume added in red lettuce, green lettuce, escarole and endive, romaine and Boston lettuce.

Acreage is about the same as a year ago.

“Harvest is right on schedule, a pretty much normal year, while last year was a good week or 10 days behind normal,” he said.

Cucumbers, sweet corn and peppers, among other commodities, will increase in July.

Harvest in Ohio will continue all the way into November.

Buurma said early indications show that foodservice demand is coming back and retail demand is still holding strong, he said.

With weather moderate, sufficient moisture and crop conditions strong, Buurma said the goal for the season is to avoid big extremes in the weather.

“Now, knock on wood, it has been all good,” he said.

The company is located in the north central part of Ohio between Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo.

Buurma Farms sells to customers east of the Mississippi River from Boston down to Miami and as far west as St. Louis and Memphis.

“We get great support from our chain stores here in Ohio and they do a really good job of promoting our stuff for the entire season,” he said.

In addition, Buurma Farms can ship produce overnight to about two-thirds of the population of the U.S., he said.

Changes

One of the changes in the past few years for the supplier is transitioning to H-2A labor, which is very expensive but the only option for a reliable worker pool, he said.