Wish Farms

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A Wish Farms warehouse in Plant City Wish Farms warehouse.jpg
A Wish Farms warehouse in Plant City

Wish Farms is a Plant City, Florida based supplier of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. The company was established in 1922. [1]

Contents

History

In 1922, Harris Wishnatzki teamed up with Daniel Nathel to establish Wishnatzki & Nathel, a wholesale business selling fruits and vegetables. He began to establish buying and selling in Plant City, Florida in 1929, leading to a permanent move in 1937. [2] After Harris' death in 1955, his sons Joe and Lester took company leadership. [3] [4] Gary Wishnatzki became the President of Wishnatzki & Nathel in 1990. In 2001, the Wishnatzki and Nathel families split the company, with the Wishnatzkis overseeing the Florida division, which took the name Wishnatzki Farms. [5]

Wishnatzki Farms started producing and selling frozen strawberries in 2002. The company was the first to offer organic strawberries grown in the state of Florida on a commercial scale in 2005. [6] By 2010, Wishnatzki Farms rebranded itself as Wish Farms with the mascot “Misty the Garden Pixie”. [7] [8] Since 2010, Wish Farms has been the official sponsor of the Florida Strawberry Festival’s Soundstage, an event stage for concert performances. [9] In efforts to solve the farm labor shortage, Gary Wishnatzki founded Harvest CROO Robotics in 2013, developing an automated strawberry picker. [10]

Products

Wish Farms is a supplier of conventional and organic varieties of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. [11] Wish Farms grows berries across North and South America including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Michigan, California, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Peru. [12] [13] [14] It began growing organic strawberries in Duette in 2005, and produced 90 percent of Florida’s organic strawberry production in 2018. [15]

In 2014, they expanded their organic supply to a year-round commodity by producing organic strawberries in California and organic blueberries in Florida. [16] The company opened an organic blueberry operation in 2016 under the name Misty Organics in Alturas, Florida. It started production in 2018 whereby the berries were grown in containers under cover, to allow for a harvest window between the South American and Southeastern United States harvests. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berry</span> In the culinary sense, small edible fruit

A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, white currants, blackcurrants, and redcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackberry</span> Fruit of Rubus species

The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus Rubus in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus Rubus, and hybrids between the subgenera Rubus and Idaeobatus. The taxonomy of blackberries has historically been confused because of hybridization and apomixis, so that species have often been grouped together and called species aggregates. For example, the entire subgenus Rubus has been called the Rubus fruticosus aggregate, although the species R. fruticosus is considered a synonym of R. plicatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boysenberry</span> Hybrid species of berry

The boysenberry is a cross between the European raspberry, European blackberry, American dewberry, and loganberry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loganberry</span> Species of fruit and plant

The loganberry is a hybrid of the North American blackberry and the European raspberry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marionberry</span> Berry cultivar

The marionberry is a cultivar of blackberry released in 1956 by the USDA Agricultural Research Service breeding program in cooperation with Oregon State University. It is named after Marion County, Oregon, where the berry was bred and tested extensively in the mid-20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V8 (drink)</span> Brand of vegetable juice

V8 Vegetable Juice, sometimes simply referred to as V8, is a trademarked name for a number of beverage products sold worldwide that are made from eight vegetables, or a mixture of vegetables and fruits. Since 1948, the brand has been owned by the Campbell Soup Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanised agriculture</span> Agriculture using powered machinery

Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm task formerly carried out by manual labour or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartles & Jaymes</span> American brand of fruit-flavored and malt beverages

Bartles & Jaymes is a flavored wine cooler and malt beverage line produced by the E & J Gallo Winery in the United States, introduced in 1985, and available in various fruit flavors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strawberry</span> Edible fruit

The garden strawberry is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria, collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely appreciated for its characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is consumed in large quantities, either fresh or in such prepared foods as jam, juice, pies, ice cream, milkshakes, and chocolates. Artificial strawberry flavorings and aromas are also widely used in products such as candy, soap, lip gloss, perfume, and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hi-C</span> Fruit juice-flavored soft drink

Hi-C is an American fruit juice-flavored drink made by the Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company. It was created by Niles Foster in 1946 and released in 1947. The sole original flavor was orange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tootsie Pop</span> American candy

A Tootsie Pop is a hard candy lollipop filled with the chocolate-flavored chewy Tootsie Roll candy. They were invented in 1931 by an employee of The Sweets Company of America. Tootsie Rolls had themselves been invented in 1896 by Leo Hirschfield. The company changed its name to Tootsie Roll Industries in 1969. The candy made its debut in 1931 and since then various flavors have been introduced. The idea came to be when a man who worked at The Sweets Company of America licked his daughter's lollipop at the same time he was chewing his Tootsie Roll. He loved the idea and pitched it to everyone at the next snack ideas meeting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polar Beverages</span> Soft drink company

Polar Beverages is a soft drink company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a manufacturer and distributor of sparkling fruit beverages, seltzer, ginger ale, drink mixers, and spring water to customers in the United States. It is the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George M. Darrow</span>

George McMillan Darrow (1889–1983) was an American horticulturist and the foremost authority on strawberries. He worked for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) for forty-six years as the pomologist in charge of research on deciduous fruit production, and authored a multitude of papers on planting and cultivating small fruits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural robot</span> Robot deployed for agricultural purposes

An agricultural robot is a robot deployed for agricultural purposes. The main area of application of robots in agriculture today is at the harvesting stage. Emerging applications of robots or drones in agriculture include weed control, cloud seeding, planting seeds, harvesting, environmental monitoring and soil analysis. According to Verified Market Research, the agricultural robots market is expected to reach $11.58 billion by 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Driscoll's</span> American fruit producer

Driscoll's is a California-based seller of fresh strawberries and other berries. It is a fourth-generation family business that has been in the Reiter and Driscoll families since the late 1800s. In 2017, it controlled roughly one-third of the $6 billion U.S. berry market. Headquartered in Watsonville, California, Driscoll's develops proprietary breeds of berries and then licenses them exclusively through approved growers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelargonidin</span> Red anthocyanidin pigment found in certain flowers and fruits

Pelargonidin is an anthocyanidin, a type of plant pigment producing a characteristic orange color used in food and industrial dyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cava Winery & Vineyard</span> Winery in New Jersey

Cava Winery & Vineyard is a winery in Hardyston Township in Sussex County, New Jersey. The vineyard was first planted in 2005, and opened to the public in 2008. Cava has 5 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 3000 cases of wine per year. The winery is named for the Italian word cava which means "cave," reflecting the mining heritage of Sussex County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of strawberries</span>

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to strawberries:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian production of berries</span>

Berry-growing in Canada is mostly confined to its rainiest areas, although a lesser amount is grown elsewhere. Most berries are grown in southwest British Columbia, except lowbush blueberry which is almost only grown in The Maritimes. Significant amounts of strawberries are grown in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and the southern part of the Maritimes, and smaller amounts around urban areas of the Prairies. Cranberry production has recently increased in BC and the east and as of 2016 is the second most exported berry by value at CAN$ 88,469,000. Blueberry is the most important, indeed top among all fruits in the country, by – cultivated area, 79,515 hectares – farm gate value, CAN$ 261,532,000 – and export value, CAN$ 422,441,000. Grape is third by – cultivated area, 12,480 hectares – and farm gate, CAN$ 151,093,000. Cherry is third in export value at CAN$ 82,841,000

Bernadine Strik was a Dutch-Canadian-American horticulturist, horticultural researcher, and professor of horticulture.

References

  1. Nickel, Ashley. "Wish Farms completes berry program with raspberries". Packer. Farm Journal Media, Inc. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  2. Drotleff, Laura (1 September 2007). "Wishnatzki Farms". Growing Produce. Meister Media Worldwide. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  3. "Strawberry pioneer remembered for work, philanthropy | Plant City Observer | Plant City Observer". Plant City Observer. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  4. "Plant City digest: Strawberry farming pioneer dies at 96". Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Bay Times. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  5. Drotleff, Laura (1 September 2007). "Wishnatzki Farms". Growing Produce. Meister Media Worldwide. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  6. "Organic strawberries finally paying off for Wish Farms". 10 January 2013.
  7. TIMES, JESSICA VANDER VELDE ST. PETERSBURG. "Pixies and Produce: Strawberry Grower Gets Creative With Marketing Push". The Ledger. Gatehouse Media.
  8. Group, KEVIN BOUFFARD NYT Regional Media. "Strawberry grower rebrands company to Wish Farms". The Ledger.
  9. Donnel, Jessica (6 March 2015). "Wish Farms is the Official Soundstage Sponsor of the Florida Strawberry Festival". And Now U Know.
  10. "Harvest CROO Robotics - Robotics Business Review". Robotics Business Review.
  11. Donnel, Jessica (31 August 2017). "Wish Farms Introduces New Raspberry Program". And Now U Know.
  12. "U.S. blueberry growers facing tough July market, says Wish Farms - Freshfruitportal.com". Freshfruitportal.com. 20 July 2018.
  13. "Wish Farms Expands Its Blueberry Reach in Michigan". Growing Produce. 15 July 2018.
  14. "Produce Growers | Berry & Vegetable Growers | Wish Farms Produce Growers". Wish Farms.
  15. "Organic strawberries finally paying off for Wish Farms". Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Bay Times. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  16. "Wish Farms Now Offering Year Round Organic Berries". And Now U Know. 21 April 2014.
  17. Hutcheson, Geneva (22 February 2018). "Wish Farms New "Misty Organics" Blueberry Farm". And Now U Know.