Not Always Right

Farmed Out Their Thinking

| Cedar Park, TX, USA | Working | July 20, 2017

(I am a night manager at a very popular sandwich chain. My coworker and I are prepping veggies for the next morning.)

Coworker: “I really want to visit the farm one day.”

Me: “Uh, what farm are you talking about?”

Coworker: “You know, the farm where they grow all of our produce.”

Me: “They grow our produce all over. There isn’t one farm. Our tomatoes are from Mexico, and our bell peppers are from California.”

Coworker: “Yeah, but I still want to see the farm where they grow everything. It must be huge!”

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  • Vyrmis

    Probably watched too many of those ads that show ‘our farmers’ carrying a tiny crate of vegetables into a sun-drenched, rustic farmhouse.

    • Thomas Solebrant

      I was thinking he plays too much Farmville.

  • Fenn

    Seeing a farm where they grow stuff is neat, but I’m guessing coworker doesn’t realize that some commercial farms are huge but possibly only growing one or two crops.

    • Aimee M

      Actually, most big farms do grow at least a few types of crops for a very important reason. Crops need ty be cycled – each type of crop will use up a specific type of nutrient from the soil, and (most) leave another type behind. To be able to continue using the land over long periods of time, the crops need to be rotated every few years and the land can either be planted with another type of crop, or left fallow (empty). They make more money by growing at least 2 types of crops that can be cycled with each other to continually be growing something.

      • Fenn

        Learn something new every day thanks.

        • godzillahomer

          Something else for you, bad farming practices can lead to disaster

          back in the 1930s, bad farming practices combined with a drought were what caused the Dust Bowl in the USA

          For pictures and a better explanation, check Wikipedia

      • Ghostest

        Most popular cycle crops where I live (and I bet most of the Midwest) are Corn and Soybeans. Corn sucks out all the nitrogen in the soil and beans, typically Soybeans, put it back in.

        • Aimee M

          I’m from Massachusetts, and my experience with farms comes mostly from the pick your own places. They rotate blueberries, strawberries, peaches, cherries, pumpkins, and 30ish types of apples.

          • Ghostest

            Yeah, pick you own product places usually have a good selection. I am talking about rural Illinois where you run into the huge industrial/corporate farms. Even pick your own product places will have a set area for such farming and the rest is corn/soybeans for the stable income.

          • Bonnie L

            How do they rotate blueberries, peaches, cherries & apples? I have experience with all of those & one doesn’t rotate trees every other year! Blueberries are large bushes & need several years to become established. A friend of mine owned a U-pick blueberry farm. The only time she took out bushes was when they got diseased – that’s when I found out there was such a thing as mummy berry.

            edit – I meant this as a reply to Ghostest

          • Ghostest

            Actually, Aimee was talking about rotating blueberries, strawberries, peaches, cherries, pumpkins, and apples. I could see rotating tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet corn, and peppers which is what most of my U-pick fields offer.

          • Bonnie L

            Not enough coffee this morning. 😉

          • chickenface

            This doesn’t clear anything up. I have apple trees, pear trees, blueberries and strawberries in my backyard and I can’t rotate those plants anywhere. What I CAN do, though, is take the manure from my chickens and make a nice compost and then spread it around the trees and bushes to make sure everything has nutrients. And I alternate my garden site with my chicken yard every few years.

          • Aimee M

            I never said they rotate everything every year. Every few years (I’m not sure how often because they usually have 2-3 fields for each per year that they alternate days for picking) I know they move things around. This year, they mowed the strawberries and IDK what else (assuming at least 1 other though).

          • Bonnie L

            But they don’t chop down orchards that are producing – those last for years.

  • clemdane

    I see a long future for this employee at this place. Just the kind of tractable, credulous and enthusiatic person you would want.

    • adamsbja

      And if they ever get fired you can say they “went to visit the farm.”

  • Pogla

    The Wallmart farm and Sandwich Shop farm are technically rivals, but the farmers are still close friends.

  • And for some reason this reminds me of when 7-11 did a promotion where they labeled all their deli foods as “fresh from Farmville” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/298b40fe01b0280d083a139122ba116fde03e81ad0cf9a0cb23b73440c4affa4.jpg

    Makes me wonder how many customers thought the food actually came from a video game farm

  • Andrew Duncan

    I mean, he’s right in the aspect that the farms are large (likely).

  • RallyLock

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59f599898d6c882ebb2d121e988703560b1c8285cc716a05140aa9c769ff3651.jpg

    There you go, Coworker. Now you’ve seen “the farm” (assuming none of the products are shipped in from the other 5 arable continents).

  • Sionyx

    Well, I drive past the farm where Bob Evans restaurants grows at least some of their food several times a year. Maybe customer’d like directions?

  • Denton Young

    Come take a vacation to California and visit the Central Valley, coworker. You’ll see more farms than you can shake a stick at.

  • Kitty

    Coworker, I suggest you play the Bokujo Monogatari games, which were localized under the title of Harvest Moon for a long time. You can grow almost any kind of vegetable (and fruit; wheat; etc) on there.

  • Max

    “Yes, it’s so big that they can build towns and cities in the middle of it.”

  • LittleMissCloud

    Most people would be appalled at what really happens at large farms. Most of the work force is not the happy white peoples you see on tv. I’m fairly certain farm animals get treated better than farm workers.

  • Huck Perry

    is he related to Family Friend that think Walmart have everything? lol

  • zizania

    Hope he’s wearing a Tyvek suit and a breathing mask when he visits that farm.

  • Planet Earth. You want to see Planet Earth.

  • Fyva Prold

    No, but you’ll visit the farm where they send all the old dogs.

  • Nic

    Solution – buy co-worker a globe: “You see this? It’s a model of our farm. And you’re right, it is huge.”