- Carrots are a Lucrative Crop for Growers on Prince Edward Island
By Kathy Birt
Canadian Correspondent
Bugs Bunny, Peter Rabbit, or even the Easter Bunny would have a field day on the properties of Brookfield Gardens, on Canada’s Prince Edward Island (PEI).
The business is owned and operated by Eddie and Gerald Dykerman, who believe diversity in growing root and leaf vegetables makes for a solid and secure living. These PEI siblings grow romaine lettuce, cabbage, turnip and parsnips, with 150 acres of carrots being their mainstay. Why carrots?
Eddie Dykerman say, simply, “It was a matter of choice.” And a good choice when looking at the industry’s annual figures of $2.5 million in 1999 (for PEI).
The partnership of Eddie and Gerald works well and they both agree making carrots their mainstay was the right choice. “It’s a more consumed vegetable. Everybody has carrots in their fridge,” notes Gerald, adding, “Carrots are more saleable and store well.”
The varieties grown on the Brookfield Gardens’ properties include Apache, Sunrise and Neptune. Apache is a hardy variety that can be planted in April and harvested by mid-September. “They grow fast and can be shipped right off the field,” explains Eddie.
This early variety is washed, graded and bagged right at the Brookfield Gardens’ warehouse and sold to local supermarkets. The later varieties go into storage for the winter markets at the PEI Vegetable Growers Co-op in Sherwood.
These later varieties keep well in storage until mid-March. Seed for the Dyermans’ carrot crop comes from many sources. Some is bought from Vessey’s Seeds, one of the larger retail companies on PEI, and some comes from Norseco in Quebec and Stokes in Ontario.
Where the seed comes from doesn’t seem to have any bearing on how well it grows. Everything these vegetable producing brothers plant, thrives in the red soil of Canada’s smallest province.
Eddie notes that consumers can buy Island carrots up until March at prices as low as $1.50 for five pounds. Growers could get up to 15 cents per pound, or as low as seven cents, depending on supply and demand. After March, imports are available.
“Imports could cost as much as $2 for two pounds,” notes Eddie.
Susan MacKinnon, vegetable specialist with the PEI Department of Agriculture and Forestry, says Island carrot growers do a good job of supplying the fresh retail markets.
“PEI carrots are recognized in the marketplace for their good quality, and superior flavor,” states MacKinnon.
In 1999, 650 acres of these “good flavored, good quality” carrots were grown on the island. Working together to produce this acreage are 10 to 15 large growers, like the Dykermans, along with a number of small scale growers.
With that many acres, supplying the local fresh market and the neighboring provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick doesn’t sell all the island’s carrots. This is where Don Reid, general manager of the PEI Vegetable Growers Co-op, comes in. He and his staff of 35 take care of the grading, storage and marketing.
The co-op services 30 members in addition to about 30 non-members. “We ship the Dykermans’ carrots all over Atlantic Canada, as well as, to New England, Boston, Puerto Rico and Jamaica,” states Reid. He points out that about 90% of Dykermans’ carrots are shipped out of the province.
And with PEI carrot sales at $2.5 million last year, this means the Dykermans and other growers are putting large numbers of PEI carrots into a lot of refrigerators in the far corners of the globe.
For the Dykermans, growing 150 acres requires good management and monitoring skills. To achieve the healthy crop that offers a good return, the brothers have hired a crop scout to assist them. “The scout monitors for weeds and bugs and offers advice on when to spray,” notes Eddie.
He says they don’t spray unless necessary, and adds that the crop scout checks for economic threshold, which helps this vegetable growing team look at the expense and environmental concerns.
“If the cost to spray is $30 (per acre) and there is only $10 in damage, then we don’t spray,” states Eddie. Both agree the success of their carrot crop is enhanced with the help of the crop scout. “We would have a lot of problems if we didn’t do this careful monitoring,” concludes Eddie.
