November 2022 - 6

DELEO
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
he said. " His theory was 'if you can
find another job and work, you don't
always have to work for me.' So I got
involved with a blueberry farmer and
knew nothing about it, other than I
liked to eat them. "
Being a laborer on the blueberry
farm was a good education, DeLeo said,
and by 17 he was driving truckloads of
blueberries to the processor.
" I didn't get home until about 8
p.m., so there wasn't much I could do
at home, " he said. " I got interested in
blueberries and more and more wanted
to raise them. We didn't live on ground
where you could raise blueberries. "
DeLeo said his father raised pickles
and cucumbers, but not much fruit.
Partners in ag
Susan, Doug's wife, grew up on a
nearby farm that had 10-15 acres of
fruit and about 40 acres of potatoes.
" I married a Bangor girl. We never
lived more than four miles away from
where we were both born and raised, "
he said.
" My wife said she hated having
school end in the spring because that
meant working on the farm all summer,
picking potatoes by hand, " DeLeo said.
" They never had a harvester, they had a
digger. They would hire help and a lot
of kids at that time who were anxious
for two-hour jobs after school. Today,
I guess that's a dirty word for kids
working after school. "
Although the area between west
Bangor and Covert area had tree fruit,
blueberries dominated the area. After
the DeLeos married, they moved near
Bangor and became more involved in
the blueberry and small fruit business.
" We started buying more ground.
With both of us coming from farming
backgrounds, it was a little easier for us
to understand what a good farm was,
and what good ground was, " he said.
They also grow raspberries,
blackberries and strawberries,
including organic, but have more
vegetables than berries, with
asparagus, potatoes and 30 different
cherry tomato varieties. Four high
tunnels and two greenhouses are for
tomato production.
DeLeo plants some newer blueberry
varieties on a small scale to ensure
they're suited for his market, mostly
fresh and direct sales.
" We're not a big grower, I mean by
having 25 acres of blueberries, " he
said. " ... Some of the new varieties are
developed more for processing, which
don't work for us. We'll plant an acre
of them and if they don't pan out for
us it's not a big deal for us to get rid of
them and try another. I know it's five
years down the road, but if something
Douglas DeLeo, a grower based in southwest Michigan, is the incoming president
of the Michigan State Horticultural Society. Photos: Gary Pullano
doesn't work for you, you have to get
out from underneath it. "
The DeLeos have been attending
the Kalamazoo Farmers Market for
51 years, carrying on a tradition
from their grandparents who started
attending the market in the 1930s.
" My wife's been there her entire
We've Got You Covered
life, " DeLeo said. " She's never had
a summer when she wasn't at the
market in Kalamazoo. She started in
1940, practically born and raised at
that market. We sell a lot directly to
consumers. "
Learning to adapt
After discarding some older
3pt sprayer with 2 hds
500 gal. w/15ft
top head fold out boom- 8 hds.
400 PC with VMC Tower Head
3004 with Orchard Head
plantings of apples - including " a lot
of old McIntosh, some of the early
Cortlands and old-fashioned Red
Delicious and some Goldens, DeLeo
Farms concentrates on vegetables,
berries and chestnuts.
The apples, planted 35 trees per acre,
were " big as a house " and couldn't be
sprayed or picked efficiently.
" They became firewood for us.
Flail Chopper
Brava Flail Chopper
Rotary Tillers
with Pac-N-Till
There's no sense keeping stuff that isn't
real productive any more, " he said. " I
know growers that say, 'oh, my grandpa
planted that. I just can't bear to get rid
of it.' "
" You're kidding yourself. You're
Edwards Dyna-Trim
Mower
spinning your wheels. We don't drive
Model A cars or hand-start tractors
anymore. You have to move with the
times. "
The DeLeos have about 40 chestnut
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Sprayer
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6 | FruitGrowersNews.com
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quite a believer in chestnuts, " he said.
" They need to be developed a little
more. There's a Michigan chestnut
alliance, which with Michigan State,
has done a lot of research in chestnuts. "
Chestnuts have a future in the area,
and can compete against imports,
DeLeo said.
" We can raise them and there's no
reason why we're not doing it. They
aren't easy to harvest, but they're
easier to store, " he said. " You don't
have to have controlled-atmosphere
storage like you do with other tree
fruits or berries. They're easy to grade.
You don't need computers to grade,
package and sell them. A lot of them
are sold in grocery stores in bulk. "
DeLeo said blueberries will also
continue to be a valued Michigan crop,
as long as varieties are chosen well.
" I know a lot of guys think it's over
with and way over-planted, " he said.
" That type of thing is taking itself out
of the business because they planted
varieties that all ripen within two
weeks of one another. There's not
enough help or machinery to get it
picked, processed and sold. You have
to expand that season. There's some
good newer varieties coming out now.
They're picking into September. This
has helped. "
Labor continues to be an issue, with
early fall apple harvest encroaching on
blueberry picking.
" A lot of the help says, 'look, I've
picked blueberries for four weeks. I'm
done.' They go into picking apples or
other fruit. "
As direct sellers, DeLeo said food
safety certification is important.
" The last thing any farmer or any
processor wants is to have an accident
or have some somebody become ill
from eating something, " he said. " Even
if you can't prove it came from the
farm, you surely don't want that in the
news about a foodborne illness. "
Mandatory training videos are in
English and Spanish.
" We have dish-pan hands from
washing buckets and lugs every
day. We've passed the food safety
inspections and we're proud of that, "
DeLeo said. FGN
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November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2022
