Italian vegetable grower
(Continued from Page CIO)
Hochmuth, who took him to see
cucumbers being harvested and
packed at Papen Farms. They also
toured a Sandel pepper and pickle
processing plant, and visited Fifer
orchards and two soybean farms.
Coltelli was interested in seeing
how Americans handle soybeans,
since his family is growing some
for the first time this year as part
of their gram/vegetable rotation,
along with field corn, wheat and
sugar beets.
While he was downstate the
young Italian visited a pick-your
own farm-a marketing idea which
clearly amazed him. Apparently,
few Italian consumers would think
of climbing into a car and driving
our into the countryside to pick
fresh produce at a farm. Roadside
stands were another novelty, as
was the American passion for
Coltelli watches as Jeenifer Powell (Camden) halter breaks calf
science lab. Jennifer is a general ag major and plans a career in the
fresh sweet com. Of all the foods
the young vegetable farmer tried
in this country, I got the im
pression this was the strangest.
Though he said the corn tasted
0.K., somehow it didn’t seem right
to be eating food usually eaten as a
grain, and then, mostly by horses
or other livestock.
Coltelli noted many differences
between cropping practices in this
country and Italy. For one thing,
most Italian farms are much
smaller-mtensively cultivated
units of only 50 acres are common.
At 100 acres, his family’s farm is
considered quite large. Most of
that land is in vegetables
tomatoes, cantagoupes, cucum
bers, eggplant and zucchini grown
under plastic for the early, high
value market, plus lettuce, celery
and parsley raised in consecutive
plantings outdoors all season long.
During his Delaware stay, Italian farmer Marco Coltelli (in dark jacket) toured U of D
ag college and attended a livestock management lab with Jennifer Powell (center),
daughter of his Camden, Del. host family.
i
during U
Extension SotWIB
A LESSON
LEARNED...
Lancaster Farming's
CLASSIFIED ADS
The produce is graded and packed
on the farm. Then most of it is
driven to a farmer’s cooperative in
Bologna for sale to wholesale
customers; the rest is trucked to a
few area supermarkets under
contract arrangements.
The heavy soil on the farm
compacts easily and requires deep
plowing. Coltelh showed me a
photo of the plow they use-a
monster blade needed to cut
through the 18 inches of top soil.
His father and uncle began
growing vegetables in 1950 and the
business has thrived. Today, his
mother, sister and he also are
involved in the operation, which
employs about 15 migrant workers
from southern Italy each year.
Seedlings are grown in heated
plastic covered greenhouses over
the winter, then transfered to
unheated ones in March. Inside the
earth-floored, 12-foot high plastic
tunnels, plants aregrown on clear
plastic mulch over black drip
irrigation tubing. Rows of
stationary overhead guns spaced
WELL
GET RESULTS!
Phone: 717-394-3047
or 717-626-1164
incaster Fanning, Saturday, November 3,1984—Cl 1
about 50 feet apart spray
vegetables in the field with a fine
mist. Two wells supply the water,
and plants are fertilized through
the irrigation systems.
Every member of the Coltelli
family has certain respon
sibilities: Marco’s father super
vises crop production; his uncle
(due to retire next year) handles
equipment and chemicals; his
mother supervises sales; Marco
repairs and drives farm
machinery and helps with
productin and harvest, working
closely with his sister, who keeps
the company books and also helps
with cropping and harvest. She has
an agricultural degree from the
University of Bologna; Coltelli is
working on one, too, but does most
of his studying at home-a common
practice at Italian universities.
Marco Coltelli said he has en
joyed his visit to the U.S. and hopes
to return sometime, but this is
probably the last chance he’ll have
to travel so extensively. With his
uncle’s planned retirement, he will
be needed full time on the farm.