Company Blog

No one is happier than us to have real, in-person trial visits again! This past summer, the HandPicked Vegetables team was fortunate to be at a handful of trials and spend some time with colleagues in a variety of cities.

Throughout the month of August, we visited trial sites in Hancock, Wisconsin; Woodland, California; Hall, New York; and our very own home farm in Elburn, Illinois. All these locations had field trials while our Elburn and Hancock locations also had high tunnel trials. The high tunnel trials allow us to observe our products that have specific disease resistances and growing habits conducive for high tunnel production.

We jumped at the opportunity to look at and get first-hand reactions on how successful our commercially available varieties were doing. Being with our customers who visited these trials and hearing their feedback to both commercial and future introductions is instrumental in shaping our collection. It was well worth the wait — just take a look at the Asian Delite Eggplant from Hancock, WI, and the Marzito Tomatoes in Woodland, CA.

_{Asian Delite Eggplants were prolific and plentiful in Hancock, WI.}

_{These lustrous Marzito Tomatoes were grown in high tunnels in Hancock, WI.}

Getting the chance to see how our HandPicked products performed in different growing conditions and in different parts of the country was informative and enlightening. The results were amazing, to say the least. And the proof is in our pictures! Traveling to each trial site to see how potential future introductions are performing has been the momentum that keeps us going to find new and innovative varieties for our collection.

_{Luther McLaughlin, HandPicked Vegetables General Manager, standing proudly in front of the trials in Woodland, CA.}

_{This magnificent example of a Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry Pepper is from the trials at Woodland, CA.}

_{In the field with the HandPicked Vegetables team in Hall, NY.}