Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, oh my

Aug. 14—CRUSO — The hustle and bustle at J.W. Johnson Tomato Co. offers a glimpse inside the vast array — and quantity — of vegetable crops grown in Haywood County and Western North Carolina.

Watching the steady stream of trucks come and go from the packing plant just off U.S. 276 South between Bethel and Cruso offers a bit of insight into why Haywood ranks 32nd out of 100 counties in vegetable production.

Farm trucks from across Western North Carolina — Haywood, Buncombe, Clay, McDowell, Henderson counties — as well as Tennessee — deliver an array of field crops, while semis are in and out daily as they pick up the fresh produce for shipment.

J.W. Johnson Tomato Co. is a family operated business that's been in Haywood since 1967. The company was started by John Bill Johnson, then run by Johnny and Claire Johnson, who are still involved in the business.

Now the third generation, Jay and his brother, Glenn, provide the day-to-day oversight in both the Cruso and the Florida operations.

Jay Johnson was the family member overseeing operations last week.

There are currently 16 growers from across Western North Carolina who deliver a variety of crops to the packing plant. Of those, half are from Haywood and the Haywood crops come from less than 100 acres of crop land, Johnson estimated.

The latest agriculture statistics available value Haywood's vegetable production at $1.5 million, but those statistics are from 2017.

Vegetables galore

J.W. Johnson Tomato Co. is at the epicenter of getting the crops from the field to the consumer.

Once the growers deliver bins filled with fresh-picked vegetables to the plant, a grower and a lot number is assigned. This allows the produce to be tracked to the originating farm, if necessary.

The quantity and variety of the handpicked vegetables are eye-popping. From multiple varieties of peppers and tomatoes to cucumbers, eggplant, squash and more, workers sort the items for quality and by size.

"The growers all have their favorite varieties they like to grow," Johnson said.

Most produce travels down a long conveyor belt where it is washed, sorted and boxed for shipment. Giant walk-in coolers keep the produce at the correct temperature before it is trucked out.

In July alone, Jay Johnson said 4.8 million pounds of vegetables were shipped from the plant. That's 120 semi-loads containing 40,000 pounds each, he added.

Ideal business model

In Florida, the Johnson family works with just six growers who farm a total of 1,500 acres in the Immokalee and Pompano Beach area.

There, the harvest season runs from November to May, which allows plenty of time for operations to wind down in Florida before ramping up in July in Haywood.

Here, Haywood producers are considered small farmers, with the largest one farming 30 acres, Johnson said. The packing continues throughout the summer, wrapping up before the first frost.

"It's too hot in Florida to grow in the summer, and having an operation here allows us to employ a year-around workforce," he said.

It takes between 30 and 40 workers at each location, and Johnson said some local workers are added each season. Most who travel to Haywood are put up at quarters at the Cruso site where there are kitchen and restroom facilities, along with places to sleep. Others are housed in nearby trailers.

Consumer sales

About five years ago, J.W Johnson began selling vegetables directly to consumers in the area.

Potential customers can go to the website https://www.jwjohnsontomato.com/ where they can mix and match boxed orders that will be available for pickup when they drop by the plant at 7762 Cruso Road in Canton between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. In addition to boxes of specific vegetables that can be frozen or canned, there's a barbecue griller mix, taco mix and veggie mix.

Consumers who buy from local grocers have a high chance of getting produce grown locally, Johnson said. All that's shipped out goes straight to distribution centers.

The Ingle's distribution center is in Black Mountain, he said, so there's a high probability that it's loaded on store trucks and brought back to Haywood. The same is true for the Food Lion center in Salisbury.

Johnson was full of praise for the growers the company regularly works with.

"They take a tremendous financial risk to grow these crops with an uncertain outcome," he said, citing weather, fluctuating markets, pests and more.

He recalled the August 2021 floods where some fields sustained a 100% crop loss. The loss affected the packing plant, too.

"It was right in the middle of the season," Johnson recalled. "We cut costs as much as possible, but there wasn't much anyone could do."