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Take a Tour of Duncan Family Farms’ New York Ranches [Slideshow]

Posted by Carol Miller|June 27, 2019

It’s tough to grow organic leafy greens in Upstate New York. Here’s a visual tour of the Arizona grower’s Northeast location.

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Late season lettuce fields at Duncan Family Farms' Brockport, NY, ranch.

Upstate New York has a wider array of soil types, from heavy clay to muck to loamy. It requires more fine tuning than Arizona's soils.
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Arizona's sandy loam dominates most ranches.
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Harvesting lettuce at Duncan's New York farm.

Duncan Family Farms is supplying locally grown organic leafy greens to the Northeast. Photo courtesy of Duncan Family Farms.
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Wet fields at a Duncan New York ranch

New York fields get a lot more rain than Arizona’s. Working in mud is a new experience for the Duncan Family Farm crews.
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Contrast the dry furrows in Duncan Family Farms' Arizona fields.

Photo courtesy of Duncan Family Farms.
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Compost windrows at a Duncan Family Farms Arizona ranch.

A key component to Duncan Family Farms' organic program is its compost. It develops large windrows on both its Arizona (shown here) and New York ranches. Photo courtesy of Duncan Family Farms.
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After the compost is fully mature, crews load large spreaders, ready to apply to growing fields.
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Arizona trucks rarely have this much mud on them.
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Erie Canal

New York tends to have dry spells during the summer growing season. As a result, Duncan Family Farms grows in fields that can draw directly from the Erie Canal.
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One of the bigger surprises for the Duncan crews in New York were the rocks.

At times, it seemed like there were more rocks than soil.
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Farm Manager Caleb Ayers heads up production at the New York ranches.
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Kelsey Neppel is Duncan Family Farms' Agronomist and Pest Control Advisor.

Photo courtesy of Duncan Family Farms.
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Heavy snow a new experience

The most obvious difference between the two farm locations is weather. Arizona natives couldn’t resist taking snapshots of something they would never see at Duncan Family Farms’ home base.

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Carol Miller is Editor of American Vegetable Grower. See all author stories here.