It is hard to miss the long line at the Mitchell Farm Produce stand in the Downtown Bloomington Farmer’s Market during the sweet corn season. While other producers also have sweet corn, those in the know choose to wait for the Mitchell corn. “It is simply the best sweet corn I have ever had….really to die for”, said farmer’s market devotee Nina Sharp.

We had a chance to talk with Patt Mitchell about how Mitchell Farm Produce got started. This is their story as told by Patt:

 “Bill (Mitchell) has been involved in agriculture in some way most of his 40 years.  He began growing produce as a youngster in order to make money in the summer time.  At the time, he really did not care for it as there was a tremendous amount of work involved, mostly using hand tools and working in the hot sun.  As a pre-teen and teenager, Bill swore he would never have a garden and that he would certainly never sell produce again.  He attended college at IllinoisStateUniversity and majored in Agricultural Business. His dad, Larry, stayed on the farm and eventually gave up the produce stand for conventional row crops, as he no longer had the help.  

Bill’s dad, Larry, grew up in Pekin, but spent weekends and summers at his grandparent’s farm east of Manito.  There he learned to drive a tractor, plant corn & beans and the  value of hard work.                         >>>>>>

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In 1971, he purchased 10 acres and a house in southwest TazewellCounty and moved his wife and kids to the country.  Larry raised hogs, rabbits, and chickens and tended a large vegetable garden.  He always grew more than his family could eat or put up.  He also worked at Caterpillar at the Morton plant and would bring in extra sweet corn and melons for his co-workers.  He encouraged his kids to grow their own gardens and to sell the items at a stand located in the farm yard.  This gave Bill and his sister spending money for several years.

I (Patt) didn’t have the great fortune to live in the country, but my grandfather in Gridley always had a large vegetable garden and I learned quite a lot from his teachings.  Other than thinking gardening was fun, I had no idea what I was about to get into.  For those that may not know, there is a world of difference between gardening and farming the way we do it.  Our “garden” is on a scale of acres and requires mechanization in the form of tractors, tillers, 4-wheelers and produce trailers, and a year round commitment to the next growing season.  We have markets on 3 weekdays and 3 markets on Saturdays.  I always grin when asked how large our garden or how long it takes to weed it.  The answers are:  very big and not long to weed when you use a lawn tractor! 

Bill began his working career with GROWMARK Inc. and transferred to the  V
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the QuadCity area.  We resided there for about 10 years. In 1998, he moved back to Bloomington and started working for 1^st Farm Credit Services as a credit underwriter. His job is essentially the same as it was 8 years ago, now he works on larger and more complex loan requests. This job is somewhat seasonal by being the busiest in the winter time and slower in the summer, leaving time for farming.    I work for District 87 schools in Bloomington.

We have 4 kids: Kyle 21, Carson 13, Emily 9, and Allison, 7. Kyle is currently serving with the US Marine Corps.  This spring will mark his 3rd tour of duty in Iraq.  We miss his special brand of humor on the farm and can’t wait for him to be able to help us!  Another question that we get is if our kids help with the farming.  They have always been taken out to the farm with us, but haven’t always been the most willing of helpers.  Yes, they do get paid!  As small children, they were more interested in digging in the dirt, collecting bugs and piling up the apples from the orchard.  Now that they are older, they can actually be given a bucket or tub and instructed to go pick something. 

Anyway, it was on a trip to Macomb that we stopped at a roadside stand near Havana to buy some fresh produce and Bill had somewhat of an epiphany.  While going back to the car, he realized that we had just bought the very same products that he had sold by the truck load. Granted, back in 1975, melons were priced 50 cents each! He realized that the tangible value of fresh produce had increased dramatically.

Also, at that time we were looking to start some kind of business; we just didn’t know what it would be. Normally, the barriers to entry in the business of farming are often insurmountable. Land is hard to come by, and also very expensive to rent or buy and machinery is often hundreds of thousands of dollars.  However, Bill’s dad, Larry, still had the land and a modest amount of equipment, plus has been tending an extremely large garden.  The idea that hit Bill that day was to do what he had been doing since he was a small boy on the farm—grow vegetables.  We had the land, we had the equipment and we also had the knowledge. 

I can’t say that I was crazy about the whole idea, but I supported him 100%.  We decided to embark on a small project the following summer to see what would happen. Larry and I both thought he was a little crazy and it would be just a one summer project, and we would do whatever it took to help this venture be successful.  At that time, Larry had not yet retired; Bill  and I were working full time, plus raising 4 kids. Time that year was the most valuable commodity for us.

We started with a couple of acres of sweet corn and melons along with a few other items appropriated from Dad’s home garden. Our 1^st market was in the summer of 2000 in Bloomington. It was the 1^st year the market was back on the court house square, so it was a good time to jump in.  We had no hired help at the time and pretty much just used the same farming practices we used back in the 70’s.  As we began harvesting for our first market in July 2000, we were pretty frustrated.  We had every inch of our mini-van stuffed with produce (no pick up truck in those days!).  Bill and his dad figured there was no way we would sell all of the produce we had picked….boy did we get our eyes opened!  We sold everything we had in about an hour. The demand for fresh produce was unbelievable, and thus Mitchell Farms Produce was born.  For those that know us now, we only had about 50 dozen ears of sweet corn, which isn’t much         >>>>>>>

compared to the heaping pick up truck loads now!

Since that time we have expanded our production a couple acres each year to accommodate increasing demand. We now “garden” over 25 acres and hire 6 additional people when we are in peak season. We do 5 markets a week including Bloomington, Normal, Springfield, and Decatur.  We also have a stand at the Country Companies GE Road location in July and August and also put in an appearance at the Third Sunday Market in July and August.   In 2005, we started a co-op agreement with another farmer to deliver produce to two other roadside produce stands in Groveland.  New developments for 2007 will see us resurrect the CSA model to people in the Bloomington-Normal area.  We experimented with this in the past, but didn’t have the labor or time to continue this very popular method of obtaining vegetables.  Our CSA is for people who want the best of the best that we have to offer. We are going to open a very limited number of shares. Our past CSA offerings have filled up very fast and have been extremely popular and I am certain that this one will go over just as well.

We practice environmentally safe and sound methods of production, such as using plasticulture for our melons which eliminates the need for pre-plant herbicides, implementing row covers which enhances plant growth and also dramatically reduces and oftentimes completely eliminates the need for pesticides. This is a hot topic for many of our customers and we are more than willing to talk with customers about what we use and why and where we selectively use chemicals.  Like I said, our children (and nieces) are often by our sides at the farm and I have never felt that their health has been compromised.

We use drip irrigation almost exclusively, which also reduces plant diseases and enhances the quality of our produce. Our sweet corn is irrigated by overhead irrigation.  We trial new seed varieties every year to make sure we are growing only the highest quality varieties. These varieties are special and you cannot get them in any grocery store. 100% of our produce is planted by hand and harvested by hand. Many varieties are so delicate that they have to be hand picked for fear of bruising or crushing. Our sweet corn is an excellent example.  It is so tender that mechanical means of picking it will bruise it and render it inedible.   We never refrigerate our produce as this just decreases quality.  It is always picked fresh and delivered to the market within hours of harvest.   All produce is meticulously examined in the field to make sure only the very best is brought to market.

We believe when you visit any of our stands that you can see the difference in the quality of the produce we present for sale, and we know you will definitely be able to taste the difference!

The future for Mitchell Farms Produce is wide open.  We continue to grow production to meet demand.  We will be entering our 7^th year in 2007.  I know that doesn’t sound like very long but thinking back it has been quite a journey. Regardless of what the future holds I can tell you that we are committed to being safe and progressive in our methods and ultimately growing the very best, highest quality produce you can get anywhere at any price.”

Mitchell Farm Produce stand at 3rd Sunday Market Bloomington, IL