Farm family finds its sweet slice of success

By Jennifer M. Latzke

If the adage is true that there's nothing like the sweet taste of success, then Greg and Kendra Smith have truly found their niche in production agriculture.

The Smiths are fruit and vegetable entrepreneurs in Rocky Ford, Colo. They grow cantaloupe melons and other vegetable crops in this fertile valley and operate a family roadside stand. And, while Greg Smith grew up in the Rocky Ford area, it wasn't until he bought a 10-acre patch of ground on the outskirts of town in 1989 that he decided to fulfill a dream of fruit and vegetable farming.

That original 10-acre patch has expanded to 50 acres of various crops, all of which are marketed through the family's fruit stand, Smith's Corner, on Highway 50, on the west edge of town. Rocky Ford is known far and wide for its excellent cantaloupes, and so it's only fitting that the Smiths specialize in this sweet crop.

It's all in the water

The secret to growing great cantaloupe is in the water, Smith said. The family uses flood irrigation on its fields, and is switching over many of its plots to drip irrigation. "They seem to grow more on the drip tape than on the furrow irrigation," Smith said. The family was one of the first in the valley to tinker with drip irrigation on their crops. With the ever-present drought in southeastern Colorado, drip irrigation has taken off among Smith's neighbors as the preferred method of conserving precious water.

"Water rights are always an issue," he said. "There's hardly any melons grown without drip irrigation in the valley now."

Melon fields require water every day. During growth, the Smiths can apply more than an acre foot of water via their drip irrigation in a day. Shortly before picking, they'll shut off the water to the crop completely, which brings the sugar on. "That and a little bit of nitrogen fertilizer is all we do," Smith said.

To reduce weed pressure, the Smiths put down black plastic between their rows of cantaloupe plants. The plastic stops weeds from germinating, and also prevents the melons from sitting on the ground and developing unattractive black spots. "Cantaloupes will always have a pale spot, though," Smith said. The pale spot is where the melon contacts the ground during growth and is unavoidable.

The Smiths only apply any chemicals they need early in the growing season, because it's difficult to get equipment into a field full of cantaloupe vines without damaging the crop. They do apply something to take care of cucumber beetles, but otherwise they are at a disadvantage in chemically controlling insects on their crop.

A melon by any other name

To maximize their growing season and their limited resources, the Smiths plant many varieties of cantaloupes and melons. They get hybridized seeds from melon seed companies around the area and then start the plants in their greenhouses during the off season. The Smiths are testing a new design of a greenhouse, one that is shaped like a teepee. The 19-foot-diameter teepees are a novelty, but they are easy to ventilate, Smith said. They'll start the plants there, in mid-March, and then plant them in the fields by hand in the spring.

The Smiths will start about 30,000 total seedlings of all of their varieties. Then, they'll plant about 4,500 young plants per acre. During the growing season they'll cull those plants that aren't growing well to allow the stronger melon plants more growing room. Eventually they'll end up with about 1,000 plants per acre.

Each is planted in its own section of the grounds, and the varieties are laid out in a pattern that makes them easier to harvest as the season progresses. There's a space left between rows to allow for easier harvesting and to allow the plant vines to spread out as they grow and set fruits.

Each field is set into two-acre segments and can produce more than 2,000 pounds of melons each season. The Smiths get by with only hiring a few helpers to hand weed the fields and to help pick the crops. The rest of the labor is provided by the family--wife Kendra, sons Adam and Mason, and daughter Sarah.

The Smiths work with various seed companies to test new varieties. Recently they cooperated with a local seed company, to test the "Dove" melon, which has a different taste and texture that appeals to melon connoisseurs. "We try the seeds as a generic variety without a name," Smith said. "It's neat because our public consumers get the first chance to taste these new melons."

Some of the popular varieties of cantaloupe include Galias, an ananase variety; Sensations and Gourmets, both Athena types; and the Piel de Sapo, a Spanish melon that has a higher sugar content than the average melon.

Of course, though, the most popular variety the Smiths grow is the one most people associate with Rocky Ford melons--No. 45. "It's the mainstay," Smith said. "It has a good flavor and people just love them."

The pick of the crop

The hardest thing to pin down, though, is what is an ideal cantaloupe. Even Smith, who's a grower, says picking a cantaloupe is just something you have to get a feel for and everyone looks for different things.

"I look for a good 'net,' which is the lines that develop on the rinds of some varieties," he said. "If it has sutures (the dividing lines on the rind of the melon) you don't want them to be really deep. You want a nice size, with some weight." Because the Smiths' fields are picked up to two times a day during the height of harvest, he and his family have developed a feel for picking their cantaloupes at the right time.

And, unlike some roadside stands, the Smiths only have a two or three mile drive to transport their melons from the field to the consumer. This means they can wait to pick their crop from the field at just the right time and the consumer reaps all the sweetness. They'll leave those melons that are at their peak in the field to ripen longer and get picked another day.

Occasionally, if they have a plethora of melons, the Smiths will sell a truckload wholesale. Mostly these end up being sold out of pickup truckbeds by small fruit sellers who set up their wares in store parking lots across the Midwest during the summer.

Just like traditional farms, it's important to rotate cantaloupe crops with other crops to maximize the fields' potential. "We grow dry beans, then alfalfa, and maybe some sweet corn," Smith said. "Alfalfa is ideal as a rotational crop, but for only so many years. We can plant beans in a field and harvest them the same year and that helps us plan our cantaloupe crops better. We contract that harvesting out to my brother-in-law."

The Smiths' roadside stand offers a little something for everyone in the family. Besides their wide selection of cantaloupe and other melons, they also sell sweet corn, tomatoes, and various other crops they grow on their farm. They broadened their market selection to include roasted chiles; onions from a neighboring grower; peaches from the Western Slope; and a selection of honeys and jams from another neighbor. The honey comes from bees that live on the Smith farm. The family allows a local beekeeper to set up his beehives near their fields. The bees help in pollinating the melons, and the honey serves as a great marketing opportunity for the Smith's stand.

Summertime in the valley can be busy for the Smiths. Between running the roadside stand, picking melons out of the fields, and preparing for each successful crop it can be downright tiring.

But the Smiths find their joy in a slice of juicy cantaloupe at the end of the day. One bite, and it's easy to taste the sweetness of success.

Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com.

Date: 8/17/06

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