Dustin and Garrett Stone are busy harvesting produce to meet the needs of their growing number of customers – HeartlandBeat photo
In today’s world with plenty of food quality issues, it’s refreshing to be able to enjoy healthy, locally grown produce! Stone Quality Produce is doing just that on the farmstead of John & Shannon Stone, operated by their two sons, Dustin and Garrett, just east of Harvard.
Stone Quality Produce had its beginnings when Dustin and Garrett both took a horticulture class at Sutton High School. They didn’t imagine then, when Garrett was a senior (class of 2016) and Dustin a freshman (class of 2019), that their love of growing plants would eventually lead to a full-fledged produce business.
“We both fell in love with the greenhouse, and we started growing vegetables to sell through FFA at the plant sale every year,” said Dustin. By his junior year, he took another horticulture class, and the local Legion Club approached him about providing vegetables for their restaurant in Sutton. He found a 30-by-72 hoop house for sale and was off and running, rebuilding it at his parents’ farmstead east of Harvard.
Today, they grow about 26 different crops and use organic practices such as no-till, compost, and organic fertilizers. “We use a broad fork to loosen up all of our soil, and that helps aerate and doesn’t kill all the beneficial microbial activity,” said Dustin.
They market their produce at several farmers’ markets in Clay Center, Geneva, Grand Island, Hastings, and Henderson. They also sell produce at Brown’s Grocery Store in Sutton and The Mercantile in Henderson.
Beets are doing well this year, and they are still growing their spring salad mix.
They offer a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program for 15 weeks in the summer. “Customers can either pay up front or week by week, with different options available for pickup or delivery,” said Dustin.
Their mother, Shannon, is heavily involved in their business, helping with social media and harvesting vegetables every week. “I remember when the boys were young, I’d get them to just give me ten minutes in the garden and they would say, ‘Is our time up yet? They hated pulling weeds!”
Shannon Stone was busy harvesting green peppers, and she is sporting one of their hats with netting to keep the mosquitoes at bay!
Dustin admitted pulling weeds is still his least favorite job. On new beds, they use a heavy tarp material left over from corn silage piles to help keep weeds from thriving. They have a few high school kids who work part-time.
Both brothers admit it’s hard work, and each season brings its challenges. “This year we planted around 100 cucumber plants, and they suddenly started dying,” said Dustin. Their second crop of cucumbers is producing well, and they just began picking last week.
They have also had some tomato disease, but other crops have been doing really well. “We have loads of onions and have harvested around 3,000,” said Dustin.
The business has been slowly building since 2018 when Dustin used it as his FFA SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project. Both Dustin and Garrett went to UNL, where Garrett majored in agronomy and Dusty in horticulture. While at UNL, Dustin was in the Angler Entrepreneurship Program, which gave him the boost to go into business.
Until this year, Dustin always had a job in the winter, but now Stone Quality is his full-time job. His brother Garrett works for a soil sampling company and has some flexibility with his job.
For irrigation, they use a drip tape system and sprinklers across their many beds. With the heat the last few weeks, he keeps busy moving sprinklers to keep everything watered. They use a vintage 1948 tractor for much of their weeding and harrowing. It has several attachments, including a basket weeder that runs between the rows and a harrow.
One building is currently full of onions drying. “You have to cure them with constant air movement so they will be able to be stored for two to three months,” said Dustin. They’ve also converted a bin into an air-conditioned storage area with a walk-in cooler.
Tomatoes are ripening inside, and the bin they converted into a storage area is where they weigh and pack produce for their weekly markets.
They have two varieties of watermelons growing: a small seedless one and a large Crimson Sweet variety. “Two years ago we had one that weighed about 30 pounds,” said Dustin. They will begin harvesting sweet corn this week, but they had trouble with raccoons in one of their plots. In their other plot, they have installed sensors that deter the raccoons with flashing lights and sounds, and so far they’ve worked.
Dustin and Garrett are constantly working on ways to improve their business and recently applied for and received a Food is Medicine grant. Once they receive final approval, they will be able to use the funds to upgrade their greenhouses for winter growing, purchase delivery trucks, or increase their refrigeration capacity. As part of the grant, they will provide produce to Sutton Public Schools and Sandy Creek, according to Dustin.
Stone Quality Produce is a refreshing family farm initiative providing healthy, fresh produce to several communities. It’s not easy work, but one the entire family has embraced, using the family farmstead near Harvard.
Follow them on Facebook and check out their high-quality vegetables at one of the many markets where they are vendors.
