Glossy magazine spreads
and high-class photo shoots are usually reserved for celebrities,
politicians and models. But if the gourds and corn at Eckler Farms
have their way, decorative produce may soon be taking over the media.
Larry Eckler’s ornamental produce items have been featured in
National Geographic, the National Gallery of the Arts and on NBC’s
Today Show. They’ve also popped up in a number of different
advertising campaigns.
“It’s a privilege to sell to some of these people,”
said Eckler, owner and founder of Eckler Farms in Niles, Mich. “It’s
a unique experience; it’s one of those things you can say you’ve
done, but you don’t get rich selling that way.”
Eckler said most of these orders are small orders that he needs to
make sure are exactly right.
Eckler Farms may not make its majority of money selling to big name
media companies, but in the farm’s 41-year history, ornamentals
are taking over a bigger percentage of the business. Larry planted
his first acre of sweet corn when he was 9 and added Indian corn 13
years later. This ornamental corn was mainly for Halloween. But today,
his business sells most of the ornamental products during other times
of the year.
“We’ve expanded the use of our products,” Eckler
said. “The Indian corn is one of the most versatile products
we grow – it’s not like a pumpkin, where if you don’t
sell it for Halloween, it’s over.”
They use the cornhusks for dolls and sell the corn to places like
Japan and Europe for exotic bird food. And growing it for bird food
doesn’t mean the Ecklers can skimp on quality. Growing Indian
corn for bird food or decorations still requires keeping worms and
insects out.
“On bird seed corn, a lot of growers think ‘why don’t
we just put all the wormy corn in there,’” Eckler said.
“But it isn’t the birds going to the market buying the
bird seed. The owner wants to buy a good product that’s eye
appealing to him. Especially in Japan and in Europe, they feel we
need to have a higher standard.”
It is that high quality and striving for product diversity that has
allowed the Eckler family to always look for new and better products.
Among other things, Eckler Farms is in the development stage of a
new Indian corn that has a green ear and red husks. They are also
the only ones who have received plant variety protection for Indian
corn.
Eckler develops new varieties through selection or through cross-pollinations.
“We handle so many varieties, that we’ll find something
unique and develop it out from there,” Eckler said. “We
do crosses in the greenhouses in the winter time, and when we find
the right characteristics and properties, we continue to cross to
get what we’re looking for.”
Always looking for something new to offer his customers is what helps
keep Eckler Farms successful, Eckler said. The family, who sells its
products retail as well as wholesale, add something new to their product
line every year.
“There’s only so much that you can sell to a certain vendor
or a certain person,” Eckler said. “You either have to
expand your products or go to a wider area. When we have our fall
harvest, it’s like one-stop shopping – we not only do
Indian corn, but also all kinds of ornamental gourds, ornamental wheat,
straw bales, mini straw bales, hard shell gourds.
“We grow all these unique things because we know the marketplace
is always looking for something new and exciting.”
New varieties and changing consumer preferences aren’t the only
things that have changed in the ornamental market in last few years.
Eckler said Sept. 11, 2001 has changed the fall holiday season for
retailers. Rather than focusing on harvest and Halloween, retailers
have changed their focus to patriotism and remembering Sept. 11.
“Our whole industry has changed since 9/11,” Eckler said.
“It’s still a major time of year for selling products,
but at one point in time, Halloween was getting ready to surpass Christmas
for decorative items. But after 9/11, retailers were shell-shocked
and everyone was looking at the possibility of another tragedy like
that happening and commemorating the anniversary.
“That year (2001) and the next two years, it’s been a
challenge to get some of the retailers to not skip over Halloween
and go to Christmas,” Eckler said.
Eckler said in the years since Sept. 11, the sale of fall decorative
items has declined, but the numbers are slowly increasing. And because
the Eckler family offers their gourds, Indian corn and other ornamental
products all year, they are seeing their overall business grow.
In late April, Eckler Farms had 40,000 to 50,000 gourds and around
80,000 mini gourds on-hand.
“One of the things is, people craft all year long, so they’ll
buy all year long,” Eckler said.
Around Halloween and Christmas, Eckler said there is an influx of
people shopping for the ornamentals, but many of the companies the
farm sells to are year-round customers. Many of their customers participate
in summer craft shows.
Some companies who make products out of the ornamental gourds order
up to 100,000 gourds at a time. To keep up with this, Eckler has come
up with new and different ways of harvesting and cleaning the gourds.
They’ve built special equipment that allows one person the ability
to wash 2,000 gourds per hour.
Family members do most of the farm’s work. Ecklers two daughters
are involved in the farm. Both have their own gourds they oversee,
as well as some of the farm’s fruit.
But when the farm does need extra help, it’s not hard to find.
Community charity groups and organizations help pull back the husk
on Indian corn for a piece rate wage. This gives the group a fund-raising
activity that Eckler said gives the organization more control than
selling candy bars.
“They know if they want to raise x-amount of money, they need
to do x-amount of product,” Eckler said. “It’s a
no-brainer on their part, and it works out for everybody.”
Everybody includes the community as well. Eckler said when community
organizations raise their funds working on the farm, the money tends
to stay in the community longer than if he hired migrant help.
“If you get the community involved, and spend money within the
community, it (money) bounces around seven or eight times before it
leaves,” he said. “If you pay someone who’s just
in the area for a little while, it (money) doesn’t stay very
long.”
When Eckler is looking for help on the farm, he places an ad. Whichever
groups or people respond, and will work the best with the help needed,
get the job. For one of his ads, 65 different groups responded.
