FARM PROFILES
Titus Farms: The next generation
Rebecca Titus has great plans for the future
By Bonnie Bucqueroux
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Titus Farms (9:37) |
Rebecca Titus understands that the world is changing, and she intends to help Titus Farms change with the times.
Shortly after earning her bachelor's degree in horticulture "with honors" at Michigan State University, Rebecca left on an MSU Study Abroad program in France called "Ecology, Culture and Politics of Food." When she returns, she will focus on earning a second bachelor's in crop and soils science, then a master's and ultimately a Ph.D.. She also plans to put what she learns to work on her family's farm outside Leslie, Michigan.
"I hope that the farm doesn't suffer too much while I work on my Ph.D., but I think being a professor and being a farmer will fit well together," she says.
The only constant is change
The only child of Paul and Rose Titus of Leslie, Michigan, Rebecca knows firsthand the challenges farmers face in making a decent living in the midst of unstable weather and changing markets. She is eager to learn all she can about how to keep the farm viable, while maintaining her commitment to building a sustainable world.
 That's a recycled maple syrup bucket that Rebecca has painted to match the violas. Items like this add to the income stream, especially early in the season when there is not much produce to sell at the farm markets. |
Growing up on the farm, Rebecca has seen the operation evolve from cash crops into a successful fruit and vegetable farm that markets directly to consumers. Father Paul and mother Rose both grew up on dairy farms, so they were able to bring their combined practical experience to the challenge of making a living on their small 20-acre farm. Over the years, Paul has perfected the organic techniques that he now uses on the home farm and the additional 60 to 80 acres that they rent from neighbors.
Rose continues to work part-time as a hairdresser, but she is also an integral part of the operation. She not only helps out with the work on the farmf, but she sells to customers at the Meridian Farm Market in Okemos where the family sells its produce from May through October, along with the smaller and newer farm market in Mason. Rose also makes strawberry jam for sale.
Rebecca has built up an additional income stream with her Community-Supported Agriculture (CAS) contracts. Marketed exclusively through the Web site she built herself three years ago, the more than 150 CSA customers pick up their fresh fruits and vegetables weekly at pickup places in Lansing, East Lansing, Okemos and at the farm. Customers range from professionals such as doctors and lawyers to middle-income neighbors who no longer have time to grow food themselves. "The food scares such as with spinach have made more people, especially families with children, want to see where their food comes from," says Rose.
Immediate plans for expansion include building an additional unheated hoophouse for raspberry production and another heated greenhouse to start plants. The Tituses have also been experimenting with year-round production of spinach and kale in an unheated hoophouse as a possibility for the future. "I never liked spinach much but eating it fresh - I ate it every day last winter," says Paul.
Marketing is key
Rebecca almost instinctively seems to understand that the key to their success isn't just about food but offering people a relationship to the farm. People want fresh food that they can trust, and whether it's through Rebecca's blog on the Internet or in person, the family knows how to connect with customers.
Paul particularly enjoys the planting parties in the fall and spring where kids who think food comes from a grocery store get a chance to see a working farm. "They thought that was the biggest thing, where could see potatoes actually dug out of the ground."
The planting party this spring had to be canceled because Rebecca was studying in France. As this suggests, juggling academe and life on the farm won't be easy, but this young woman grew up putting in 15-hour days and seems to thrive on them. As she says in the video, organics not only makes sense to her, but she also values the cultural movement.