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Emerald Valley Ranches
Emerald Valley Ranches


 

Emerald Valley Ranches

Emerald Valley Ranches grows:
  • Broccoli
Sustainable Profile: Produce, Local

Mileage to Boston: 361.45 Miles

Qty:

Description
 
Fourth generation family member Andy currently runs the 2,500-acre broccoli farm known as Emerald Valley Ranches, but the family history of farming goes back many years before he took over. Andy’s great grandfather, Forest Page, began farming in Ashland, Maine in the early 1900’s, growing many acres of potatoes, oats, barley and hay. Both his paternal grandfather, Paul Ayer, and his maternal grandfather, Guy Kirk, also farmed for many years. In the mid 1960’s, Andy’s father, Forest “Bud” Ayer, bought his first farm and began growing potatoes as well as running a potato sales business. Bud and his children moved to what they now call the “Home Farm” in 1966, where Andy and his family now live. By the time Andy graduated from college in 1981, the farm acreage had grown to over a thousand acres of potatoes. In 1980, the family planted a few experimental acres of broccoli (the first in Maine) and increased this to about a hundred acres the next year, when Andy joined the family business. By the mid-eighties, they phased out of growing potatoes and concentrated on increasing their broccoli acreage, researching the latest technology and selecting varieties that thrive in our northern Maine climate.
We now proudly have a fifth generation interested in the farming business, and we hope to keep our farm growing and shipping the highest quality broccoli for generations to come.

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