Friday, July 17, 2020 - Country Acres • Page 7
Always ready to go Rosenquists up to challenge of growing vegetables BY DIANE LEUKAM | STAFF WRITER
ATWATER – Growing vegetable crops can be a challenge, but it is something Frans Rosenquist is very comfortable with. The Atwater farmer has been growing peas and corn for 43 years. “You have to approach growing vegetables that this year they may come out perfect, but next year it might not be that way; we’re playing with the weather and mother nature,” Rosenquist said June 4 at the farm. For Rosenquist, growing vegetables requires being ready to go when the time is right, whether that is
getting into the fields in the spring or at harvest time. His farming philosophy revolves around planning, something that has carried over from his years as a professional snowmobile racer from 1967-82, the racing heydays. He was inducted into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 2006. “When we raced, we always had to have a backup plan,” he said. “If Plan A didn didn’tt work, what was Plan B going to be? You had to be perfect because everyone else was going to be perfect. I took that into farming with me, that I am always 100 percent ready. I’ve got to have a plan; if this doesn’t work what’s my next
PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
Frans (from left) and Jason Rosenquist, R Brandon Barber and Matt Nelson stand in a field of peas June 19 at Rosenquist Farms near Atwater. Combin Combines work in the background.
plan? We move right into the second stage of it and that’s been very successful for me.” Rosenquist and his wife, Deborah, have three children and 10 grandchildren, all who live close by. Sarah and her husband, Travis
These harvested peas will be loaded onto a semi-truck and hauled to Glencoe for processing, June 19 at Rosenquist Farms near Atwater.
Weseman, live in Grove City; Nicole is married to Brandon Barber, and they live across the field from the farm, and Jason is married to Katey, and they live on the farm. Frans and Deborah live nearby. Frans and Deborah farm with Jason and Brandon, along with one fulltime employee, Matt Nelson. In the fall, five or six part-time employees help with the harvest. They grow 2,500 acres of soybeans, 2,500 acres of corn, 800 acres of sweet corn and 200 acres of peas.
Peas are grown on contracts with Lakeside Foods in Brooten and Seneca Foods in Glencoe, while all the sweet corn is with Lakeside. Seed is provided by the canneries and can vary by the year. Crops are planted according to a delicately balanced schedule determined by the canneries to ensure the vegetables from many farms are ready to harvest in a steady flow. The canneries use a 10-year average yield of 3,000 pounds of shelled peas per acre to calculate planting dates and to keep
the plant running at its peak efficiency. They also keep track of heat units. “The companies know how many heat units it takes to get these peas ripe, so they are watching the heat units. Every day, they get so many heat units so they plant more acres; they know how many acres they can harvest,” Rosenquist said. For the last 40 years, Rosenquist Farms is the first to be planted with peas, due to its de-
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