Growing Up on the Farm, a look into local agriculture, presented by Briwood Farm Market, also fueled by KUBOTA. Today we are profiling Vermeer Orchards.
Christine and Ben Vermeer own and operate 200 acres of orchards in the Calton area.
Christine comes from multiple generations of apple farmers. Her father and brother are still growing apples on the family farm today. Ben’s family, meantime, has a rich background in Dutch floral horticulture and operates Vermeer Flowers in St. Thomas.
Christine’s grandfather immigrated to Canada from Holland and began farming near Port Stanley.
“We started farming chickens. I worked at the bank and my husband was a weld engineer at Presstran. An apple orchard came up for sale, so we decided we wanted to be self-employed. So we started with a hundred acre apple farm on Sawmill Road.
“It was our shot to become self-employed, I guess.
“It’s exciting, whether good or bad excitement, it’s always exciting.
“And then from there in 2019, we bought a building here (on Springfield Road south of Calton), modified it and rented it out. It was just cold storage. So we grew apples and stored apples.
“And then in 2021, we added the packing line. So now we’re full cycle. So we grow, store, pack. So it’s a full cycle.
“So right now we have 205 acres of apples, a little bit of pears, but not much. And it’s on six different farms.”
We asked Christine what factors steered her in the direction of apple orchards?
“So I grew up on an apple farm, so we had knowledge of it.
“So we have 60 offshore workers who come to help pick the apples. And then we have about 10 to 20 Canadians, 10 of them are full-time year-round.”
Despite automation, the apples still are hand-picked, explained Christine.
“I think in the next 10 years, we’ll see it shift. I think the biggest thing with the robotic pickers is apples bruise really easy, which people don’t realize. You can’t just grab and leave.”
She added the front-end cost of robotic harvesting would be worth the investment.
“I think we would be easily able to justify because the amount, you can easily see what we spend on labour costs.”
As to the harvested apples, Christine explained, “We do direct-to-store as well as we’re in the Farm Boy warehouse. So that’s a warehouse we’ve acquired. And then we have a really good partnership with another apple packer in Ontario. And they really have helped us out and do a lot of business with them.”
Christine and Ben have four children and we asked if a new generation will keep the Vermeer name associated with apples.
“So my oldest is only 16 and my youngest is 10. So they’re still in high school. We’ll see what happens. My oldest is moving away in a couple of weeks. He’s going to Virginia on a football scholarship. We’re sad, happy, but if that works out, he probably won’t come back here.
“Well, they’re young and they have to make that decision on their own. My youngest wants to be a pilot right now.”
As to the future, Christine advised their biggest competitor is the state of Washington.
“They are so big compared to us. If they import lots, then the price drops.
“Lately people are demanding more local, which has really helped out. We’re building the expansion (to their hub on Springfield Road) so that we can have apples longer into the season. But by the time all the fears of tariffs and buy local came in this year, we were almost sold out.
“And I’ve heard from our partners that we subcontract a lot through that they got much busier. So the people buying local definitely impacts and helps out our local farmers.”
You can hear a portion of our interview with Christine Vermeer below.
Written by Ian McCallum
