Fairbury big on tomatoes in '60s

By the 1950s, horses had been replaced by internal combustion engine-powered tractors on Fairbury area farms. For various reasons, farmers standardized by only growing corn and soybeans on their farms.

Many Fairbury area farmers were surprised when they read the May 14, 1964, issue of the Fairbury Blade newspaper. In this edition, the Blade reported that 40 acres of tomatoes would be grown on the Jim Goold farm four miles northwest of Fairbury.

The Blade reporter asked Jim Goold why he turned to raising tomatoes when he had an excellent five-year corn average of 114 bushels per acre. "Everybody talks about our corn surplus," says Jim, "so I decided that the land might as well produce something that is needed."

Historically, Campbell Soup had three plants in Chicago. Each year, they contracted with nearby farmers to grow the tomatoes needed by the factories. As Chicago continued to expand, many of these farms were converted to residential or commercial real estate. Campbell Soup had to look further south for farmland to grow their tomatoes.

In January 1964, Campbell Soup guaranteed him a market to sell his tomatoes, but the other headaches were Goold's. Goold had to pay all the bills for the labor, fertilizer, planting, insecticide fungicide spraying, and trucking. Of course, Campbell assisted by finding labor, plants, and trucks if necessary.

In May of 1964, a crew of nine people planted 220,000 tomato plants on Jim Goold's 40-acre patch. They put 5,500 tomato plants per acre 16 inches apart and in rows 66 inches wide.

Jim rented a unique planter to do the job. Helpers were Lois Chapman, Karen Lake, Tom Hudson, Mary Bagley, Margaret Karr, Mildred Skrobonak, Evelyn and Everett Ruff. Jack Taylor and Goold acted as tractor operators.

Three different varieties were planted, one a hybrid. The hybrid plant was developed in the United States but hand-pollinated in Japan. The plants were started in Mississippi and Georgia and then moved to northern states for the mature product.

Other area tomato growers for Campbell soup that year were Roy Peterson, Colfax, John H. Miller, Dallas, and Carl Wendling, all of Chenoa, Donald Hassinger, Swygert, Herbert Zimmerman, Pontiac, Louis Bachman and Ben Wettstein, both of Gridley.

Almost an acre at the Goold farm was used for experimental purposes. A research doctor from Campbell Soup conducted the program. Several varieties were planted and nursed along. Goold used 120 pounds of phosphate and 75 pounds of nitrogen to the acre. He also applied 180 gallons of water to the acre when the tomatoes were planted.

In August 1964, Blade reporter Dale R. Albee did a follow-up article about Jim Goold's tomato harvesting operation. The tomato harvest started in August, and it took about eight weeks to harvest the 40 acres of tomatoes.

A crew of about 50 Mexican-Americans spent eight weeks at the Jim Goold farm. Thirty-five of the fifty people worked in the fields. Jim Goold provided living quarters for his workers by completely remodeling a metal shed. He put up partition walls and created eight huge rooms and a recreation area in the center. The building had a screened-in area with a TV. The screened-in room was used for visiting, dancing, or fiestas.

Outside toilets were erected, a bathhouse was built, and a laundry room was constructed. Jim Goold also provided all the furniture. Jim Goold told the Blade reporter he wanted to make the building pleasant enough that the workers would want to come back the following year.

The tomatoes were picked by hand and placed into crates called lugs. Each lug held about 32 pounds of tomatoes. The average worker could pick enough tomatoes to fill 225 to 250 lugs daily. Workers were paid by the lug.

The champion picker at the camp was a woman named Mela Aguilar. She picked about 275 lugs daily, or 8,800 pounds of tomatoes daily. No other worker could keep up with her.

Once harvest started, four semi-trucks were loaded with tomatoes each day and sent to one of Campbell Soup's Chicago processing plants. Each truck held 1,080 crates.

The supervisor of the Mexican-American workers was Lalo Chavez. He was a worker for eight years before taking over foremanship two years before. He had his crew at Princeton harvesting asparagus for the prior two months. Chavez had 68 workers there on 750 acres. He noted that a good picker can average 1,000 pounds of asparagus daily. Chavez was married and the father of six children.

During the winter months, the work crew journeyed back to their homes in Texas, where they harvested carrots and fruits.

The Blade reported observed the most demanding job of all is truck loading. Those men were paid extra. Crates of tomatoes were stacked at the end of the rows. These were then pitched onto a semi-trailer as it moved along. A man on the ground hoisted the 32-pound lug all the way from the ground and threw it to a man on the truck. Since lugs are stacked nine high on the truck, this amounted to a lot of throwing. The men took turns. One worker loaded half the truck from the ground with the other worker up on the truck. Then, the two workers switched positions. They attained the unbelievable speed of loading 1,080 crates in 45 minutes.

Jim Goold continued raising tomatoes on his farm for several more years before he discontinued tomato farming. The Blade reported that all the parties involved in the operation were happy with the operation. Campbell Soup got good products, and the workers enjoyed their stay in Fairbury.

(Dale Maley's local history column is sponsored each Monday by Dr. Charlene Aaron and Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury)