 Like a Rolling Stone
Tennessee vegetables gather no moss
on their way to new markets.
by J. Laurie Byrne
In 1997, Jefferson
County farmers produced over 200 acres of pumpkins, 80 acres of squash,
nearly 150 acres of tomatoes, smaller acreages of commercial cabbage and
watermelon along with fruit from three apple orchards and a couple of vineyards.
Not too shabby for a county where there was virtually no
vegetable or fruit production as recently as 1990, says Bill Reed, UT Agricultural
Extension Service county leader. This year, income from produce was at an
all-time high of $2.75 million. Reed points to the East Tennessee Regional
Food Distribution Center in White Pine as providing the impetus for crop
diversification in the county.
Twenty years ago, talk among East Tennessee farmers began
revolving around the need for a distribution center to provide a marketing
advantage for a 12-county area that includes Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger,
Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi
and Washington counties. In June 1994, the East Tennessee Regional Food
Distribution Center opened on Interstate 81.
More than three-quarters of the nation's population is within
a day's drive of White Pine.
"Marketing is our lifeblood," said Cornell Howard,
manager of the center. "If we don't do the marketing, the growers are
going to lose interest real quickly."
Tennessee is a deficient producer of fruits and vegetables,
according to Dr. Al Rutledge, Extension commercial vegetables specialist.
Although the actual value of fruits and vegetables produced in other areas
of the United States and Mexico moving through the state is not known, Rutledge
estimates it to be between
$1 and $2 billion. In a good production year, fruits and
vegetables produced in Tennessee are worth about $80 million.
"If Tennessee growers could double their production,
it would amount to only 8 to 16 percent of the volume handled in the state,"
said Rutledge. "With the White Pine distribution center in place, an
opportunity exists for growers in the area to increase the volume of Tennessee
vegetables and fruits entering the marketing channels. Several million dollars
used to purchase vegetable and fruit products can now be kept within the
local trade area."
The White Pine facility allows growers to sell large quantities
of produce that are packaged and moved into wholesale market channels throughout
the eastern United States. Approximately 60 percent is shipped to retail
food warehouses and 40 percent goes to wholesale warehouses. Seventy percent
finds its way out of state.
"We have a tremendous location connecting Interstates
81, 40 and 75 that matches any in the United States," Howard said.
"Out of here we can go north, south, east or west. When the cabbage
crop cleans up in Florida, where do they get their cabbage? Tennessee can
fit into that by sending it right back to Florida while at the same time
shipping it north to Wisconsin."
The distribution center solicits a product order and forwards
the order to a grower who will harvest and pack the product. Tractor trailer
trucks pick up the order at the farm and transport it to the center where
the product is loaded onto trucks headed for retail centers. Checks from
buyers go directly to the grower.
Danny Shelton of New Market typified East Tennessee producers
prior to the opening of the distribution center. He converted from tobacco,
corn, wheat and soybeans in 1994 to 75 percent cabbage, cantaloupe, watermelons
and pumpkins last year. This growing season he added 40 acres of squash
to the mix.
Shelton views marketing as his toughest challenge since
getting into the produce business. He prefers to move his product through
the White Pine facility because it frees him from the phone.
"It's easier for us," he said.
"Cornell (Howard) knows all the brokers and buyers. The regional farmer's
market has vendor numbers for major food chains and they carry the insurance
for you. They can open a lot more doors that I ever thought about opening.
"There's more income potential in produce than row
crops will ever offer for the number of acres you've got to work with,"
Shelton added. "It's a lot higher risk, a lot more manual labor, but
you still have potential for more money per acre than anything else we can
do with our land.
"The biggest challenge is getting it moved on time
to the market because of short shelf life. You can't put it in the grain
bin like corn. It's got to have a home pretty quick."
The life of products moving through the White Pine facility
has been extended through the use of a hydro cooler provided by Produce
Kountry, a national fruit and vegetable distributor that formerly occupied
a majority of the space in the regional farmers' market.
"For example," explained Howard, "green
cabbage comes in at about 70 degrees and is run through a hydro cooler which
brings the temperature down to around 36 degrees and takes the field heat
out. The hydro cooler cools and circulates just like your office air conditioner
except it uses water to add moisture to the product."
Making the initial decision to convert to vegetable production
presents growers with their toughest challenge, according to Howard.
"We advise them to pick five items for their income
that will keep them in the entire growing season, encourage certain varieties,
provide them with packing information and then refer any technical questions
to Dr. (Alvin) Rutledge, Bill Reed or other Extension agents," said
Howard.
"These growers are well qualified. UT has done a good
job with graduates in many phases of agriculture and it's paying off at
the farm level."
In 1995, the Extension Service, with funding support from
the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), conducted vegetable crop diversification
demonstrations with six growers actively diversifying tobacco production
to include vegetables. Eighty-three acres of spring and fall cabbage were
marketed either entirely or partially through the White Pine facility. The
producers collectively increased their net cash flow by almost $200,000
through the demonstration.
The same year, Extension and the UT Agricultural Experiment
Station developed a vegetable equipment exposition at the Plant Science
Farm in Knoxville. More than half of the 500 participants were farmers,
many of whom were looking for ways to diversify their existing operations.
Howard says the prospect of continued growth for fruit
and vegetable producers in East Tennessee is "unlimited." "Volume
from individual growers is increasing because they feel comfortable with
the marketing plan we use," he said. "They're seeing a good return
from their investment. And the investment is good for the economy of the
area."
"The area around Homestead, Florida, has been known
as the 'vegetable beginning of the year' area," said Howard. "They've
been doing a real good job, but we can do the same thing in White Pine starting
a little later in the year. We can ship the same products-beans of all varieties,
cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes,  cabbage, sweet
corn, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon-from right here." | 