Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/34759
Summer Fruits TITAN Farms W As the name suggests, it’s big, home to 4,900 acres of peaches. by Richard Lehnert hen you have 4,900 acres of peaches and 600,000 trees to manage, how do you keep track of everything—the planting, pruning, thinning, spray- ing, irrigating, multiple pickings, packing, and the 520 workers doing all these tasks? Well, you could add another 700 acres of bell peppers and broccoli— just to keep everyone busy in the off season! Titan Farms in Ridge Spring, is the largest peach farm not only in South Carolina but on the entire East Coast. Owners, Chalmers Carr III and his wife, Lori Anne, added the vegetables to keep the workers and packing house engaged when peaches are not in their 16-week harvest season. People management is one of their most important activities. As for the peaches, it helps to think of them in 20-acre blocks. Some 56 varieties ripen in a staggered fashion, starting with Flavorich and Queen- crest about May 10 (five days ahead of normal this year) and ending September 15 with Autumn Prince. There is also some replication by location. Geo- graphic spread is used to reduce risk from spring freezes or hailstorms, and assure a steady peach output season long. Titan Farms is a major supplier of peaches, serving nine distribution centers for Walmart alone. “Walmart is one of our biggest customers. We service quite a few of the largest chain stores on the East Coast, but this year, our relationship with Walmart has grown even more,” Carr said. Titan Farms has also had a long relationship with a sales agent, Richter and Co., located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Richter arranges all the sales and shipping for Titan Farms. Richter also manages nine of Walmart’s distribution centers. Walmart has become sold on southern peaches, Carr said. “Even though they are somewhat smaller than fruit from California, they are sweeter,” he said. “We say, they’re going to win the beauty contest ‘cause they’re big and pretty and everything else, but we kind of think we have the personality, the flavor, and the profile to go with it.” Early peaches run about 2 ¼ inches, later ones 2 ¾ and 3 inches, he said. Early peaches are clingstone, transition- ing to semiclings and freestone by June 15. “We pack 80 to 100 loads of peaches a week,” Carr said during an interview with Good Fruit Grower in his wood- paneled, brown-tile-floored suite of offices at Titan Farms. Each load contains 1,500 cases, each case a half bushel, or 25 pounds. The quarterback To get an interview with Chalmers Carr, you have to go through two Beths—Beth McCreery who answers the phone, and executive assistant Beth Johnes, who filters and sorts, deciding who gets part of his time. But once inside, you find openness on all ques- tions and have his nearly undivided attention—with some interruptions. People do get access to this busy man who describes himself as the quarterback of the operation. Titan Farms is a family operation, but not in the usual southern sense of old extended family. Chalmers bought the farm in 2001, after farming for some years in Florida and then leasing the South Carolina farm three years before he bought it. 16 JULY 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER Amancio Palma, right, manages the huge crew of more than 400 H-2A workers who work in the peach orchards. With Chalmers Carr III, they look over peaches ripening in mid-May. Back then, the farm was 1,500 acres, all peaches, no vegetables. The vegetables fit in. Titan Farms grows both a fall and a winter crop of broccoli and peppers, 350 acres of each, to provide work for H-2A workers both in the field and in the packing house. The vegetables extend the packing and sales season from 16 weeks to 38 weeks. Most of the broccoli is field-packed. Nothing is harvested from January to April. There are several key employees in the operation, some family and some almost like family. www.goodfruit.com RICHARD LEHNERT