June 2021 - 1

Industry innovates to
find best ways to grow
fruit
Mating disruption
products availability,
practice grow
8
16
20
The Center for Produce
Safety continues to
fund research into
listeria
June 2021 | Volume 60 |
Issue 6
Stephen Cornish, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Marines, plans to " retire " into the life of a grower, buying a small blueberry farm in Warwick, Rhode Island with his mother. Photos: Rocky Point
Blueberry Farm
KEEPING IT COUNTRY
Mother, Marine son take over blueberry farm nestled in city
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
What do a retired music professor and a
retiring U.S. Marine have in common?
Why, a blueberry farm, of course.
Mother and son, Nancy Cornish and
Stephen Cornish, and his wife Sonya,
went into business together in the
summer of 2020, buying Rocky Point
Blueberry Farm in Warwick, Rhode
Island.
Unlikely growers and business partners
they may be, the family says it's right
where they should be after buying the
small blueberry farm and farm stand.
It's a happy next chapter for a farm
that's nestled in a heavily built-up corner
of Warwick. And it's a fortunate turn
during a time in which farm succession is
generally considered to be a challenge. On
a national level, family ownership isn't a
given where small farm operations don't
always survive the sale of the property
and assets. In the U.S., the number of
farms has steadily decreased over the
years, while the average size of the farms
continues to increase.
" I don't know how many times I heard,
'I'm glad you kept this a blueberry farm,' "
Sonya said. " I think they thought when
we bought this property we were going to
tear it down and put apartments up. The
folks around the neighborhood are really
happy we're keeping it farmland. "
Making the decision
Keeping the farm with a country feel
was not only a dream come true for
the Warwick community, but also the
Cornish family.
" It started off, nine years ago, as my
idea, " Nancy Cornish said. " I knew the
people that owned the farm at that time.
They were putting it up for sale. I was
teaching in the state of Wyoming as a
music professor, I was getting ready to
move back to Rhode Island to help take
care of my parents, and I came to see the
people who owned the farm. And it just
See CITY, page 5
Partnership targets nation's food deserts
By Crystal Nay
Western Editor
Some of tree agriculture's biggest
players are looking to change the face of
hunger and food accessibility in the U.S.
Burchell Nursery, in partnership with
Netafim USA and Dole Packaged Foods,
has identified some of the nation's worst
food deserts - areas that have limited
access to fresh, nutritious, affordable
food - and is helping to transform these
communities by providing them the
trees, irrigation and education to promote
healthy food choices and accessibility.
Just under two years ago, and shortly
before the coronavirus pandemic
upended food supply chains, Dole was
looking at the hunger issue through an
accessibility lens. From this, the Dole
Sunshine for All program was born and
set to launch in early 2020, just as all the
shutdowns began rolling out across the
country. Though delayed, the program
finally launched Aug. 1 in Jackson,
Mississippi, the first city of many, where
it's common for underserved residents
to live 15-20 or more miles from the
nearest grocery story that provides
fresh produce. Combined with poor
public transit, the odds were stacked
against this community in terms of food
accessibility, and then magnified as
effects of the pandemic worsened.
But that is slowly starting to change
with the help of these ag companies and
the Boys and Girls Clubs of America,
which hosts 4,700 locations across the
country and three of them currently
operating in the Jackson area, and
the remaining two to reopen once
COVID-19 regulations say it's safe to
do so.
More than an orchard
Dole, with irrigation donated by
Netafim and orchard trees provided
by Burchell Nursery, is building a fruit
orchard in the rural, wooded hills on
See PARTNERSHIP, page 6

June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2021