December 2020 - 1

Cornell's tips for
grafting tomatoes
successfully
Sensor-driven, variablerate
irrigation project
recognized
8
31
36
Driscoll's, Plenty
research vertical
farming for
strawberries
December 2020 | Volume 54 |
Issue 12
BEST FOOT
FORWARD
Hensley to lead Michigan Vegetable Council
Katie Hensley, incoming president of the Michigan Vegetable Council, with her father, John Swanson, and brothers Wes and Matt. They are standing among brine tanks used to
pickle cucumbers at Swanson Pickle Co. in Michigan's Muskegon County. Photo: Stephen Kloosterman
By Stephen Kloosteman
Associate Editor
A well-traveled leader of west
Michigan's Swanson Pickle Co. is set to
lead the Michigan Vegetable Council
(MVC) for the next two years.
Katie Hensley studied in Spain, and
worked for Syngenta in Switzerland
and Miami before returning in 2013 to
the family farm operation where she's
the chief financial officer. In addition
to serving on the Michigan Vegetable
Council, she also is on the board of
directors for the Great Lakes Fruit,
Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO in
Grand Rapids.
With a season full of bumps due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, " every day was a
new adventure, but we got through it, "
she said. " I think we're surviving it. "
Building up business
Located near the village of Ravenna in
Muskegon County, the company runs a
cucumber pickling operation that draws
cucumbers from its farm acreage - about
3,000 acres of cucumbers, corn and
soybeans - although the majority come
from other growers. The site includes a
grading facility and yard with dozens of
giant tanks of brine where the cucumbers
are pickled. Hensley's father, John
Swanson, is the company president while
uncle Dave Swanson schedules when other
growers can drop off their cucumbers
for processing. Hensley and her brothers
Wes and Matt round out the management
team - although there are many shared
responsibilities, Katie focuses on finances,
while Matt and Wes lead the farm
operations and brine tanks, respectively.
Swanson Pickle has continued to invest
in equipment and facilities in recent
years. The farm operation two years ago
added vision technology for sorting out
foreign materials from the cucumbers.
The device, Optimum Sorting's Focus
1800, sorts out debris like corn stalks or
vines that are taken in by the mechanical
harvesters. The Swansons also recently
built housing for workers who come to
Michigan for the asparagus and apple
seasons in addition to pickles.
" There's a domestic migrant workforce
that comes from Texas and Florida,
following crops up and down the U.S.,
but if you don't have housing, you're not
really a viable workplace for those people, "
Hensley said.
Although they currently use domestic
labor for seasonal work rather than
contract with foreign crews through
the H-2A visa program, the Swansons
KATIE HENSLEY
built the housing to the higher standards
required for H-2A. Not only did the
facility help with recruiting, but it was
also well-received by the farm's longtime
workers.
" Most everybody that comes, it's not
the first time we've seen them. We have
some people that return every year, "
Hensley said. " We have people that will
leave their things there - really great
employees that are coming back. "
Pandemic precautions
The advent of the COVID-19
See HENSLEY, page 6

December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2020