Mason Co. Ranked No. 1 Nationally for Growing Popcorn, Green Beans, other Vegetables
Chances are good that no matter where you live in the United States, you have a part of Mason County in your kitchen pantry.
Ideal growing conditions for specialty crops and long-standing contracts with internationally known food producers Del Monte, Weaver Popcorn, Frito-Lay and others have combined to make the 583-square-mile county with 14,660 residents the nation’s No. 1 for growing popcorn, green beans and other vegetables.
“I pay attention to see what people pick off the shelf, and if they ask me, ‘Which one should I buy?’ I say ‘Del Monte, of course,’” said Adam Shiffler, who grows green beans and peas for Del Monte and popcorn for Weaver Popcorn on his 2,000-acre farm between Havana and Manito in the northwestern part of the county. “I think it’s kind of neat to grow food products, like the Del Monte green beans that actually come right from our field. It goes right in the can and they sell it. And the popcorn just goes right into a microwaveable bag somehow or another.”
“Me, my wife and kids eat popcorn every night,” Shiffler said. “Some years, the popcorn won’t yield that well, and whenever I feel like quitting, I think, ‘Yeah, we’d better do it, because we are No. 1 in the nation.’ I enjoy doing it.”
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Ideal growing conditions for specialty crops and long-standing contracts with internationally known food producers Del Monte, Weaver Popcorn, Frito-Lay and others have combined to make the 583-square-mile county with 14,660 residents the nation’s No. 1 for growing popcorn, green beans and other vegetables.
“I pay attention to see what people pick off the shelf, and if they ask me, ‘Which one should I buy?’ I say ‘Del Monte, of course,’” said Adam Shiffler, who grows green beans and peas for Del Monte and popcorn for Weaver Popcorn on his 2,000-acre farm between Havana and Manito in the northwestern part of the county. “I think it’s kind of neat to grow food products, like the Del Monte green beans that actually come right from our field. It goes right in the can and they sell it. And the popcorn just goes right into a microwaveable bag somehow or another.”
“Me, my wife and kids eat popcorn every night,” Shiffler said. “Some years, the popcorn won’t yield that well, and whenever I feel like quitting, I think, ‘Yeah, we’d better do it, because we are No. 1 in the nation.’ I enjoy doing it.”
Click Here to read more.