LAKE HERRON, Minn. — Some local farmers are now marketing the fruits of their labor — or rather the seeds they harvested.
Zach Schumacher and Isaac Fest harvested two pieces of popcorn totaling 1.5 acres on Halloween and started last week for their locally grown produce – two Playboy Popcorn is packaged and labeled.
“Here, it’s corn and soybeans. I’m just thinking of something that’s easy to harvest and that’s very similar to what you’re doing on a normal corn field,” Fest said of his idea of growing popcorn.He pitched the idea to Schumacher, a friend and graduate of Heron Lake-Okabena High School, and the two quickly put the plan into action.”We wanted to try something different — something unique — that we could share with the community.”
Their Two Dudes Popcorn products include 2-pound bags of popcorn; 8-ounce bags of popcorn sealed with 2 ounces of flavored coconut oil; and 50-pound bags of popcorn for commercial use.Heron Lake-Okabena High School made a commercial-scale purchase and now offers two Dudes popcorn at its home sports games, and the HL-O FCCLA chapter will sell the popcorn as a fundraiser.
Locally, popcorn is sold at Hers & Mine Boutique at 922 Fifth Avenue in downtown Worthington, or can be ordered directly from Two Dudes Popcorn on Facebook.
Fest bought popcorn seeds during a business trip to Indiana last spring.Based on the growing season in Minnesota, the 107-day relatively mature variety was selected.
The pair planted their crops in the first week of May on two different plots—one on sandy soil near the Des Moines River and the other on heavier soil.
“We think the hardest part is planting and harvesting, but it’s easy,” Schumacher said.”Getting the moisture level to perfection, small-scale harvesting, preparing and cleaning popcorn and making it food-grade is a lot more work than you might think.”
Sometimes – especially during mid-season droughts – they think they may not have a harvest.In addition to the lack of rain, they were initially concerned about weed control because they couldn’t spray the crops.It turns out that weeds are kept to a minimum once the corn reaches the canopy.
“Popcorn is very specific about the moisture content required,” Schumacher said.”We tried to get it to dry to the humidity levels in the field, but we just ran out of time.”
Fest’s father harvested both of these fields on Halloween with his combine harvester, and it only took a few settings on the corn head to make it work.
Because the moisture content was so high, Schumacher said they used an old-fashioned screw-in fan on a large box to get hot air through the yellow popcorn crop.
After two weeks — after the popcorn had reached the desired moisture level — the farmer hired a South Dakota-based company to clean the seeds and remove any material, such as husk debris or silk, that might have accompanied the seeds through the combine.The company’s machines can also sort seeds to ensure the final, marketable product is uniform in size and color.
After the cleaning process, the crops are shipped back to Heron Lake, where farmers and their families are doing their own packing.
They had their first packing event on Dec. 5, including a few friends, with 300 bags of popcorn ready to sell.
Of course, they also have to taste-test while working and ensure the popcorn’s quality bursting ability.
While farmers say they have easy access to seeds, they are not sure how many acres will be available for the crop in the future.
“It will depend more on our sales,” Schumacher said.”It was a lot more physical work than we expected.
“Overall, we had a lot of fun and it was fun hanging out with friends and family,” he added.
Farmers want feedback on the product – including whether people are interested in white and yellow popcorn.
“When you’re looking at popcorn, you’re looking at yield and a kernel that will expand well,” he said, noting that popcorn yields are based on pounds per acre, not bushels per acre.
They didn’t want to reveal yield figures, but did say that crops grown in heavier soils performed better than those grown in sandy soils.
Fest’s wife Kailey came up with their product names and designed the logo attached to each bag of popcorn.It features two people sitting on lawn chairs, gorging on popcorn, one wearing a Sota T-shirt and the other a State T-shirt.These shirts are a tribute to their college days.Schumacher is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Agriculture and Marketing with a minor in Horticulture, Agricultural and Food Business Administration; Fest is a graduate of South Dakota State University with a degree in Agronomy.
Schumacher worked full-time on the family berry farm and wholesale nursery near Lake Herron, while Feist worked with his father at his father-in-law’s tile company and started a seed business with Beck’s Superior Hybrids.
Post time: Jun-23-2022