Nov 4, 2011

Jawor Bros. opens new blueberry facility

After several years of planning, the new processing facility for Jawor Bros. Blueberries Inc. opened in Ravenna, Mich., July 8. Not only are they moving their own berries through the new place, they are moving quite a few other growers’ crops as well.

“We had grown out of our old place,” said Mike Jawor. “Our co-op, MBG, had talked to us about building a place big enough that they could lease a portion of the building to move other growers’ berries through, too. We have at least 25 to 30 other growers shipping fruit through here.”

The Jawor Bros., Mike and Jeff, have been farming since 1962, when their dad Carl started with 25 acres near Bridgeton, Mich. In 1992, Jeff joined the family business and Mike came on full-time in 1995. They currently farm 600 acres between Nunica and Ludington, with the bulk of the acreage around Ravenna.

“All we do is blueberries,” Mike said.

“Seems like we’re expanding a little every year,” Jeff said.

From the beginning, they have been members of the MBG (Michigan Blueberry Growers) co-op.

“It’s been a very positive experience for us,” Jeff said. “I’m a past board member and Mike is currently on the board.”

Jawor Bros. grows roughly 80 percent of its crop for the fresh market and the rest for frozen. At peak season, they have right around 250 employees between harvesting and processing, Jeff said. They currently have around 25 workers in the new facility, but expect to be up to 40 when they are in full swing. Labor is a concern for the future.

“The government is going to have to solve it for the farmers so we’re not in limbo,” Mike said. “If we were just dealing with frozen, we could mechanize, but for the fresh market you need hand-picked fruit.”

Part of the reason Jawor Bros. doesn’t have labor issues yet is they house the majority of their workers and have for some time, Mike said. They have a regular crew that keeps coming back.

Jeff Jawor figures they can run 6 million pounds of fruit through their new facility in a year if they run one shift.

“If we had to, we could easily run multiple shifts a day. That’s in the future. It would be nice if it was today, though.”

The future plans for the facility include a retail presence with coffee, ice cream, baked goods and blueberry products. They are also planning a u-pick operation at the facility. They planted blueberry plants around the entire building and will open that part of the business when the plants are ready.

“We’re working on the u-pick and baked goods for the retail part of it,” Jeff said. “You’ve got to have good-tasting baked goods for that to work. If you sell a blueberry muffin, it has to be a great tasting blueberry muffin. Our mom always wanted to have a bakery as part of the family business.”

By Derrek Sigler, Associate Editor