FORKS OF THE HURRICANE — Thomas Family Farms has the blues this time of year, but that’s a good thing.
The blues are blueberries and lots of them, and the season is about to get underway.
“We’ll run wide open from now until the season ends in June,” said Michael Thomas, one of the owners of the farm and the manager of its operations.
The farm, located on Old Alma Road, first opened in 2010 is an all out family affair. Brothers Chad and Michael, Dad Mike and Mama Terri each play a role in the day-to-day operations of the company.
Younger brother, Jordan, is not hands on with the business, but he plays his part as an apiarist, providing honey bees for the pollination of the farm’s berry bushes. Jordan Thomas owns and operates Thomas Honey Farm.
Michael runs the farming operations, while Chad runs the packing plant. Terri does the bookkeeping and Mike holds a “master of all trades” kind of position for both companies.
“We help each other out and we depend on each other and that keeps us going,” Chad Thomas says.
Together, the Thomases run a growing and fresh packing operation for a national cooperative.
The Thomas Family has been recognized as Farmers of the Year by the Pierce County Chamber of Commerce.
Thomas Family Farms has nearly 1,200 acres of berries, including 650 the family owns and 550 acres which are leased. While the majority of the operation is in Pierce County, they have also recently branched out to Clinch County.
The packing plant has also recently undergone a major expansion, which will provide more capacity and volume for the berry operations.
During the first year of operation, the packing shed was about 12,000 square feet. By the company’s five-year anniversary, the packing facility increased the square footage to 18,000. The company expanded again this year bringing the packing plant to 32,500 square feet.
“We’ll start our first pickings of our early varieties next week,” said Michael Thomas.
Thomas Family Farms has 15-20 varieties of berries, each with their own unique qualities.
“Each one is different,” explains Michael Thomas. “Some of the varieties are about timing. Some mature earlier in the season, while others are toward the end of the season. Some of them have different flavoring.”
As the season gets underway, Thomas Family Farms employee numbers go from the 10 permanent, full-time positions to 500 during the peak of the growing and packing season.
Harvesters and pickers will fan out across the farm picking berries. Those berries will be brought to the packing shed.
From there, Chad and his employees go to work getting the blueberries sorted, graded, packaged and ready for market.
“We do at least 10 different packaging styles that can range from a 6 ounce container to a 2 pound container with several sizes in between,” said Chad Thomas.
As the weather heats up outside, the packing house is climate controlled at a cool, crisp 50 degrees, with the capability to pack at 34 degrees.
The packing house will run four packing lines in shifts of 8-15 hours per day, seven days per week during the peak of the season.
“We literally lose track of what day it is during that period,” said Chad Thomas.
Last year, Thomas Family Farms packed as many as 200,000 pounds per day.
Once packaged, the berries are sold in various ways.
The farm does wholesale operations, but the vast majority of the blueberries are sold through the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association.
“Don’t let the name fool you. There are more growers in the cooperative in Georgia than there are in Michigan,” said Michael Thomas.
The packages of fresh blueberries grown in Pierce County end up in a wide variety of places, including Sam’s Wholesale, Costco, Kroger and Chic-filA. While most are sold here in America, Canada is also a big buyer for the berries.
Once the season passes, that does not mean the Thomas family gets to take it easy, however.
“We begin hedging, pruning and fertilizing right up until mid-September, then we let the bushes go to sleep and start getting chill hours through the late fall and over the winter,” said Michael Thomas.
Then, the process starts over again. “The Lord has blessed us with great people who have helped us to be successful. We are most thankful for His blessings. We are a family,” the brothers said.
