State of the Vegetable Industry Survey: Labor Issues Flummox Growers
Like many vegetable growers, Bill Spiller of Spiller Farm in Maine has faced challenges in maintaining a consistent labor force. He’s found relative success via different methods.
Photo courtesy of Spiller Farm
Spiller Farm, a medium-sized, century farm in a coastal area near the southern border of Maine, matches the top responses we got in the labor and management sections from the 2021 State of the Vegetable Industry.
For example, family does all management tasks on the farm (as do 61% of all vegetable operations) and he hires local residents (like 39% of his peers). And like 58% of all growers, Spiller ranks labor as a major management challenge.
What does it mean to be a vegetable grower in North America in 2021?
If you look at the most common responses from
American Vegetable Grower’s annual State of the Vegetable Industry Survey, a grower’s operation:
Is between 25 and 50 years old (39% of all growers)
Has less than 25 acres (47%)
Has a direct-to-consumer division (74%)
Grows tomatoes (63%)
Naturally, that’s not the whole story. To learn more, we talked with three growers who match all of these statistics.
Advertisement
Meet Kimberley Plemmons, Sott Shacklett, and Bryce Frei. They may have a few things in common, but also demonstrate just how diverse our industry is.