PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor from Doug Dimmers:
I just finished reading a great story in the St. Catharines Standard about the tulip farms across our little community. It has been great to see the investment and growth of this gem in our town. I was however truly shocked to read that our Mayor has decided to rent out his land to a large out of town (and frankly out of country) operation, that takes all the profits they are making off our lands, and exports them to New Jersey. I am always happy to see others take notice of our community and invest in it, but I feel that the Mayor actively supporting a large multinational corporate operation over local farmers is probably not the best look for our town. The local owners of Sarah Grey & JPs live here, work here, and invest their time and dollars across our community, I cannot say the same for the other farm. The Mayor should be ashamed of himself to sell out to this corporate payday. I wonder what kind of fee the Mayor is charging for this enterprise to take over his land for a three-week boon and sit empty after the season ends? Must be quite a deal to harm some of your local farmers/voters … If you are considering a romp in the tulips, consider supporting (truly) local.
Doug Dimmers
Fenwick
Mayor Junkin responds:
For the record, I have been in the business of agriculture my whole life, and please believe me when I say that it is a highly competitive business, whether one is growing soybeans, corn, hay, or tulips. If you don’t figure out what works or doesn’t work on your farm, and do so in a hurry, you won’t last in the game too long.
I offered my land to one Niagara tulip grower who has grown in the area over the last two years, and she and her partner are quite good at it. After walking the fields (I actually offered them two sites to choose from) they decided the fields were too big for them to manage, and declined to use them.
When another tulip grower heard that the fields were available, they came, they saw, and they rented.
As when I grow hay or soybeans, I did not feel the need to do a Town-wide survey to see who else was planning to grow tulips this year. From what I have observed over the past 3-4 years, the grower with the best social media savvy attracts the most customers. They don’t care if the owner is local, foreign, from Pelham, or from Simcoe—what they see and read on the web will decide where they go. If you do not have a great social media presence, you will not do well.
When the tulips are harvested, depending on the condition of the surrounding fields, I will either plant soybeans or take hay off the fields. Any time a farmer in Niagara can get two crops from a field in one calendar year, that is a win.
