Olathe sweet corn growers searching for a win amid pests, severe weather
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OLATHE, Colo. — Even though he can’t control it, Reid Fishering is always worried about the weather and what it means for his crops.
Fishering, president of Mountain Quality Marketing and Olathe Corn Company, is one of about two dozen growers that provide the famous Olathe sweet corn to grocery stores across the country.
“We like to tout that we go from coast to coast, we go to Virginia Beach all the way to L.A. So we are nationwide,” he said.
About 89 percent of their product goes to grocery chains, 10 percent to wholesalers, and the last one percent to local farmers markets in Colorado.
President Donald Trump’s tariff rollout and immigration crackdown have led to uncertainty and fear at many American farms, but Fishering said he hasn’t been impacted by changing political winds.
Mountain Quality, like hundreds of other growers in Colorado, participates in the H-2A visa program for seasonal agricultural workers. The program allows American employers to hire foreign workers for agricultural work. Fishering said the H-2A process went smoothly this year. He said he isn’t worried about immigration agents coming to the farm because all of his employees are in the U.S. lawfully, although journalists have documented several instances in which ICE agents have detained American citizens.
Fishering is mostly worried about the weather.
“In terms of hedging or mitigating your risk, mother nature still is something that you can't mitigate. And so it's been pretty stressful the past couple of years,” said Fishering.
Growers have been battling Helicoverpa zea, known as corn earworm, since 2021. The pest eats the silk and top of an ear of corn, contributing to lower yields. It’s been a common pest on the Western Slope, but has gotten worse over the last few years. Farmers often use pesticides to try to fight the worm, but Fishering says the bug is becoming increasingly resistant to those measures.
“Labor [cost] has gone through the roof this year as, literally, we’re opening the top of every single ear to inspect for the worm before we put it in the box,” said Fishering.
Harvest begins in mid-July and ends in mid-September. Fishering hopes he won’t have to deal with a freeze in early September, another weather event that could damage his crops.
This summer, Mountain Quality has harvested about a quarter of their corn out of the fields. Harvesting on August 1 ended early because the next few fields Fishering wanted to tackle weren’t ready. He can tell if an ear of corn is perfectly ripe just by how it feels when it snaps off the stalk.
“This is definitely two days away,” said Fishering. He said when it is ready, the kernels will be filled out, and the signature white and yellow will be extra bright. Fishering, standing a few steps into his 15 acre field, took a bite of the corn. “When you pick it right, it almost tastes like ice cream,” he said.
His crew can harvest a whole field in one day using a mix of hand labor and heavy machinery. When a field needs a few more days before it’s ready, there are still orders to fill, and semi trucks to load.
Jesse Gonzaleaz has come out to Mountain Quality every summer for the last 32 years, bringing his expert forklift driving skills from southern California, where he works in packing sheds the rest of the year.
“Right now it’s 118 [degrees] in the desert in California. Right here is paradise for us,” said Gonzaleaz, sitting in his forklift, the temperature in the high 80s.
Fishering says his forklift drivers can load a semi with pallets of sweet corn in about 20 minutes. The machines deftly dance around the packing shed, carrying two pallets at a time to load a 53-foot tractor trailer. Chunks of ice sit in a pile on top of each pallet. Keeping the corn cold is a vital part of the operation.
“We’re making around 80 to 100 tons of ice in a given day,” said Fishering.
Icing the boxes slows down the process of sugar turning into starch, so the corn keeps its namesake sweetness.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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