Pride of the Umpqua

Principals:

Harmon and Noreane Walker

Location:

Roseburg, OR

Miles to Market:

100

Farm Size:

80 acres

Supplies to Co-op:

winter squash; zucchini; cantaloupe; tomatoes (orange and red cherry, red and yellow pear, paste, slicing); berries: boysenberry, marionberry, raspberry, strawberry

Harmon and Noreane Walker, owners of Pride of the Umpqua say they've "been doing this forever." They began farming in 1974, got into the berry business sometime before 1979 and began growing tomatoes sometime around 1984. A large part of the farm has been certified organic since 1998. When they're in full swing picking cherry tomatoes, (around August/September,) there can be around 30 people working on the farm.

Pride of the Umpqua's location, not far from the coast, benefits from being nestled inside the temperate climate of Oregon's "Banana Belt." Not only that, Pride's crops lie in fertile spots close to riverbanks and are irrigated out of the South Umpqua River. Those conditions are hard to beat for heat-loving crops.

While Pride of the Umpqua is distributed through Organically Grown Company, because we visited their farm and look forward to their cauliflower every year, we wanted to mention them here among our local growers.