Last week I had the opportunity to tour Riveridge Produce with Meijer stores. It was a beautiful fall day, and it was a good reminder to me that farming as an industry is very important to Michigan. I also appreciated Meijer’s efforts to source as locally as possible.
On the tour I learned that “The Ridge” has been producing apples and other fruit since the late 1800s. German settlers used to plant apple trees between the peach trees because the apple trees took so long to grow and the peach trees only lasted a few years.
The Ridge is well known for apple production, in 2006 the area accounted for 65% of all Michigan apple production.[2] The Ridge is approximately 8 miles (13 km) wide and 20 miles (32 km) long covering 158 square miles (410 km2) in portions of Kent, Newaygo, Muskegon, and Ottawacounties. It extends from Walker in the south; to Grant in the North, and is primarily centered around Sparta. ~ Wikipedia
I was glad to hear that the farms are making an effort to be as environmentally-friendly as possible and to be the employer of choice. I think we hear a lot about the down side of industrial farming, forgetting that those involved are hard working people who do care about the land and the people who work it.
It was a fun day, and I was reminded of my agricultural roots. I was also reminded about how much industrial agriculture impacts our Michigan economy.
- Meijer purchases from 71 growers in Michigan
- Meijer started in Michigan and has grown throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky
- Michigan is one of the top three apple-producing states in the U.S.
I was also glad to see the farmers and processors addressing issues such as the environment, immigration, and fair wages.
If you get the chance, I highly recommend visiting a family-run orchard this fall!
Wow, I didn’t realise apples had such an interesting journey. I am now craving a juicy delicious apples. How on earth does the machine decide whether each individual apple is small, medium or large? I wish there was something in my area that I could do a similar tour of, my little boy would love it. What a great day you had. Thank you so much for sharing, I’m off to look at all your recipes now.
P.S, your photos are just beautiful.
Thank you! And there are scanners on the machine that can sense how big it is, plus optically scan for any bad spots. It’s crazy!
I LOVE that you did this visit and really learned how the entire process goes! I think it helps us appreciate just how much work goes into getting the food we eat into the grocery store 🙂 Thanks for sharing! Here from UBC!
Hello there Wendy, I’m visiting you from UBC. Wow, that’s some production; I didn’t have any idea of technical details like pressure tests and starch indexes. I guess in some ways I’m pretty lucky because I can go out to the garden and pick an apple in season from trees both here in Vancouver and my Oxfordshire garden. In Oxon we have enough to store in a fruit store, but in Van we don’t. I guess the rest of the apples I buy go thru this sort of process.
Hope you have a lovely rest of the week. 🙂
Someday I would love to have a place in the country with apple trees. That sounds so lovely!
Thank you so much for spending the morning with us to learn about The Ridge’s rich history and the fantastic partnership between Meijer and River Ridge Produce. I’m so glad you had a nice time, and I can’t wait to hear about the great recipes you tried out with those delicious apples!