Wiers Farm Inc. moving big volume

Crop conditions look good so far for Willard, Ohio-based Wiers Farm Inc. 

Harvest the first week of June included greens, radishes, cilantro and dill, with more crops added as harvest moves into July.

“So far, everything’s going according to plan,” said Ben Wiers, president. “Early on, we had dry weather and conditions were favorable for getting a crop in earlier than what we’ve seen the last couple of years.”  

Crops have adequate moisture with warm temperatures, he said.
“Crops are going out on schedule and seems to be that we’re hitting our planting dates, so we are getting consistent supply product in the ground as we move along,” he said.

By mid-July, Wiers said the farm will be harvesting about 30 different commodities.

When disease pressure caused the company to cut celery production, Wiers said it added cilantro, dill and other items to fill that void.
This year, Wiers said overall acreage is holding about steady for the farm.

While acreage may go up or down 5% or 10% for individual commodities, overall acreage will be steady, he said.

Wiers said the farm, in north-central Ohio, has fields over a 35-mile  region.

Near Tiffin, Ohio, the farm has plastic culture that is used for peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant. It also grows on organic muck soils, which are ideal for leafy greens, he said.

Foodservice coming back

Wiers said he thinks that restaurant trade is coming back “fast and strong.”

“We’re excited about the opportunities that that brings, and our retail customers continue to move good numbers also,” he said. “We feel positive going into the season.”

Value-added packs are part of what Wiers Farms offers, he said.
“We can customize packs; we have a fairly wide assortment of packs that we can do,” he said, adding that the company bags jalapeño peppers, pickle cucumbers and green beans and can offer overwrapped options as well.

The company has a 20,000-square-foot facility that is temperature controlled for year-round packing and repacking needs, he said.
During the pandemic year of 2020, Wiers Farms did offer direct-to-consumer produce boxes, where consumers could pick up the boxes from the company.

“At this point, we are  probably hold off on that for this coming season.”

The business outlook is constantly changing, and Wiers said labor is a particularly thorny issue.

“We use H-2A labor, and it worked out well for us,” he said. 

However, the cost of the H-2A program is quite high, he said. 

Though labor is a concern, Wiers said the farm has many advantages in terms of market access.

“Our location here in Ohio, where we can disperse our products in a timely manner to many of the major cities in the East and Midwest, gives us a huge advantage in terms of getting product to the customer.”

Despite the challenges of inflation in packaging, pallets and truck rates, Wiers said he is optimistic about the future.

“We’re seeing inflation that we haven’t seen in years,” he said. “As long as we can see an increased return on our products, we should be OK.”

Wiers is a fourth-generation member of the farm that began in 1896.
The fifth-generation family members are already pitching in at Wiers, he said. 

“The fifth generation are in doing a phenomenal job of helping to manage the company moving forward,” he said. “They are a very insightful and talented group.” 

And the sixth generation of family leaders is not far off; several are now making their way  through high school, he said.