Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Peterson.
Hi Jake, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We are a small family farm that bought by John Peterson Sr. in 1955. John Jr. and his son, Matt, started the Peterson Farm Business in the 80s. Now Matt and his son, Jake run the business. We grow a variety of crops including peaches, apples, strawberries, a variety of vegetables, Christmas Trees, hay, wheat, and soybeans. When John and Matt went into business together, it was a side business for them. Both had full time jobs. Now, Jake is at the farm full time with a few employees. The farm used to be all field crops. Now, we are moving more toward fresh fruits and vegetables sold directly to the end consumer. We offer Pick your own for our strawberries, peaches, apples and Christmas trees. We also have a CSA program where people can buy a subscription to the farm and receive a box of produce every week throughout the growing season. The rest of our produce is sold on our roadside produce stands.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In agriculture, we have a few issues that we deal with. The biggest, and totally out of our control is weather. Weather can make or break a crop. For instance, this past spring, we had a frost event, where in one night, we lost 100% of our peaches and at least 50% of our strawberries and apples. Combine that loss with drought conditions in early summer and it adds up to very tough year. Besides weather, we have been struggling with increasing prices across the board especially labor.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Peterson Family Farm, LLC?
We are known for and most proud of the quality of our crops and beauty of our farm. We pick our produce daily and take a lot pride in having the best quality produce possible. We get a lot of compliments on the quality of our produce and hear often that we have the best produce stand in our area. We work hard to preserve the history on our farm. A lot of the buildings on the farm date back to the 1700s and 1800s.
What’s next?
We plan to keep moving forward with our fresh produce and hope to one day have a larger farm store. Our biggest goals are to preserve the farmland that we have, maintain healthy soil, and have a sustainable farming business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.petersonfarm.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petersonfarmupick
