Annual Taber corn harvest ready to reach Albertans' tables
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James Johnson of Johnson Fresh Farms works alongside his brothers and father to bring what they consider the best, freshest, and sweetest Taber corn to Alberta.
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'We just kicked off our corn season, and it's looking like we are having a half-decent crop, so there should be lots of corn all over the province, and even some of the western provinces,' Johnson said.
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Despite major weather events hitting several areas around Alberta, the Johnson Fresh Farms crops was untouched by some of the extreme conditions were seen over the summer.
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'It turned our fields super muddy, and we actually had to stop harvesting for one morning just because it was way too wet, and we lost power here at our packing shed,' he said. 'But overall, as far as crop damage, there really wasn't any, so we we're really lucky.'
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Since it is the earliest point in the season, Johnson said anyone who is looking to stock up on corn should wait a little bit longer for the main crop to hit the market.
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'We always tell people — hey, if you want to freeze corn, just wait another week to 10 days, because that's when we get into our main season stuff and that's way better corn for eating and freezing,' Johnson said. 'I mean our stuff is good, but the main stuff that's coming is a lot better.'
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When it comes to growing their famous corn, it's not an easy feat to make sure their produce gets into the market first.
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'We start some stuff under biodegradable film, which here in Alberta there is a lot of wind and that stuff does not like wind,' he said. 'You can watch a lot of your hard work get blown away fast, which causes challenges, but we have been doing this for a long time, so there's a couple of tricks we have up our sleeves and we've been able to grow some really awesome corn.
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Then, there's the matter of getting the corn to where it needs to go.
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'We pick a pack super early in the morning, sometimes we start at 3 a.m., and we pretty much pack it all day, and get it all gets shipped the same day, too. They go right into our hydrocooler, and then shipped throughout the province.'
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Johnson said their farm does not use any genetically modified organisms on any of their farms.
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