March Produce Pioneers

Strites’ Orchard

By Laura Drotleff
Senior Staff Writer

“RECORDS, records, records and more records. We must keep so many records, deal with so many regulations.” Joseph Strite, one of the current owners of Strites’ Orchards in Harrisburg, PA, says this is the key to running a successful vegetable operation today, compared to 93 years ago.

Strites’ Orchard was established in 1914, when Joseph Cockley Strite bought the 125-acre Cockley farm from his grandfather, who had farmed part of the land since 1843. Joseph Strite began raising fruits and vegetables, as well as steers, hogs and chickens, and worked on the railroad. In 1928 he quit the railroad to farm full time, selling most of his produce door-to-door or at the farmers’ market in downtown Harrisburg.

Struggling through the Depression, Joseph Strite enlisted the help of his son, Earl, who helped expand the farm to 165 acres by 1950. Earl took over operation of the farm that year and gradually started to change the business, halting livestock production and growing direct sales from the farm. Eventually Strites’ stopped selling at the farmers’ market and began packing apples and selling in the Philadelphia and Baltimore produce markets. Over the years since 1950, Strites has changed from selling at local markets and packing apples to selling everything it grows at its own market.

Grow What Customers Want
Today Strites’ Orchard encompasses 297 acres with 35 kinds of vegetables — including 35 acres of sweet corn, 8 acres of green beans, 4 acres of asparagus, 4 acres of spring peas, 6 acres of pumpkins, 2 acres of peppers, 3 acres of tomatoes, and 5 acres of melons. It also produces 13 kinds of fruit — including 40 acres of apples and 32 acres of peaches and nectarines — and walnuts. Strites’ buys vegetables at the Lancaster County auction to supplement the vegetables it grows. The operation plants vegetables nearly 100 times throughout the year to maintain a steady supply of produce for its market.

“Customers are unhappy when they come here and are not able to purchase a certain item they know is in season,” Strite says.

Over the years, the farm has welcomed visitors from other counties and even other states, Strite says, and with the addition of the operation’s Web site, distribution is now nationwide.

“We recently had an order from Canada for delivery in the U.S.,” he says. “With our greenhouses, we start our season with flower and vegetable plants, hanging baskets, spinach, and asparagus in April, and we finish in April with apples, turnips, cabbage, red beets, cider, and potatoes. Variety is what customers want, and the more produce we have, the better the sales.”

Keep It In The Family
The farm operation’s third generation, brothers Joe and Tom Strite, have been involved in the business “since we were old enough to work,” Joe says. Both graduated from Pennsylvania State University with degrees in horticulture, and came back to the farm.
“We have done every kind of job on the farm from pickers to ‘bosses,’” Joe adds. “In 1975 we became partners in the business and in 1982, took over the daily operation of the farm when our mother died. Our father, Earl, died in 1991.”

Strites’ Orchard has remained a very family oriented operation and credits this among its reasons for success. Strites’ employs Joe’s wife Sharon and daughter Stephanie Pomraning, Tom’s wife Sheryl and sons Matt and Jon, as well as three other full-time employees — Albert Largent, Pablo Torres, and Tim Langford — and 40 seasonal employees.

“We look to keep farming for many generations to come,” Joe says. “Already we are in the process of passing on our family to our children. They are gradually being worked into full partnership over the next five years.”

The Strites are very involved in the State Horticulture Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, serving on several committees. Joe Strite also has held board positions with these organizations, with the Horticulture Trade Alliance, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s pesticide advisory board, among other positions.

“The most valuable thing I get from these meetings is talking to other growers, but it also keeps us informed on things that are happening within the industry, even helping us to make changes, and correct and head off problems,” he says.

Spend It To Make It
Being so involved and in tune with the industry has made Strites’ a true resource for its customers and vice versa. In addition to Strites’ observing smaller-quantity buying trends and more interest and concern for the environment, customers look to Strites’ for answers on national food and agriculture issues.

“When something is in the news, we get lots of questions, but mostly people are just so happy to have a place to come to buy fresh, locally grown produce,” he says. “They are aware of decreasing farm land but I am not sure they totally understand what is happening to the farming industry in the U.S.”

To stay lean and innovative, Strites’ Orchard recognizes the value of spending money to make money, both by investing in new technology and streamlining energy efficiency. “We try to purchase at least one piece of new equipment each year, but with the cost of new equipment, we also try to take care of our current equipment. Our potato planter is 50 years old,” he says. “We use two layers of inflated plastic in our four greenhouses, and in 1994 we built a new farm market that is so well-insulated, we use only two small propane heaters to heat it in the winter.”

Investing in a good thing also pays off for Strites’ labor force, Joe says, but even that is about to get more competitive.

“Pennsylvania raised the minimum wage this year, but we already paid more than the minimum wage for all employees, except high school students,” he says. “If other businesses in the area start paying more, we may have to raise our wages, hiring less high school help and more adults for our market.”

Direct questions or comments about this article to
lhdrotleff@meistermedia.com