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Michigan Blueberry Grower Wins
National USDA Award

By Karen Gentry
Managing Editor

There are more minority-owned farms in Van Buren County than any other county in Michigan; most are centered around Covert, Mich.

Barbara James Norman, a blueberry grower in Covert, Mich., is continuing the blueberry growing tradition of her grandfather.

The small community has a long tradition of diversity with whites, blacks and Hispanics owning farms. One of these growers, Barbara James Norman, a black blueberry grower from Covert has received accolades as of late. She was recently selected the national “Small Farmer of the Year” by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The award, sponsored by the National Organization of Natural Resources Conservation Service Black Employees, is given to small-scale farmers who are outstanding conservationists as well as community leaders. She has made many changes to the farm over the years including adding a specially designed building for mixing chemicals and using cover crops and other natural conservation practices.

Norman still lives in the family home she has lived all of her life. When she inherited the farm, the blueberries were not producing at optimum yield. With assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, she began actively managing the farm.

Many varieties of blueberries are grown including Jersey and also Stanley on some older fields and a lot of Bluetta and Earliblue as her early varieties. She plans to add Elliott for a late season variety. She harvests her early blueberries the fourth week of June.

“Right here the soil is perfect,” said Norman. The soil’s high pH, sandy acidic soil and geographic location make the area ideal for growing blueberries. She said Covert is in the imaginary line for blueberry growing that runs from Muskegon to the Grand Haven area and south and as far east as Grand Junction and Bangor. Norman noted that good blueberry growing land in the Covert area have risen in cost to a point where $1,000 per acre is considered a bargain.

Norman is dedicated to working with youngsters to tell “the blueberry story.” She is well known in her corner of the state as she spent many years as a school bus driver and transportation director in the Covert Public Schools. Norman is the mother of three children and now her granddaughter represents the fourth generation in the local school system.

The 28 acres of blueberries Norman now cultivates were handed down from her grandfather, Stanford Simmons. “My grandfather helped people get into blueberries,” said Norman. She said her grandfather encouraged others as he saw the money making potential of growing blueberries. Simmons was a Baptist minister at a local church and she estimates eight black church members started growing blueberries because of his influence.

The first blueberries were grown on Simmons Farm in 1956 after many years of growing vegetables, berries and even pears.

Many of her farm’s blueberries were sold to MBG Marketing but now she has elected to also sell to nearby receivers.

“The beginning and end of season the market is high - prices are high,” Norman said.

She said she believes value-added is where the future is in blueberries. She said 50 value-added products with blueberries are already here and blueberries are the “number one health food.” She commended MBG Marketing for work in marketing blueberry products and David Conner, MBG’s sales and marketing specialist.

Today Norman has come a long way from when her grandfather worked the fields. “I have everything I need for my fields,” said Norman. She said in her grandfather’s day fertilizer was spread by hand using a cup. “My tractor has a cab, heat, air conditioning and four-wheel drive,” she said.

She said that managing human, production and marketing risks, present the greatest challenges in growing blueberries.

Norman is involved in many local, state and national organizations. She is the president of the Southern Michigan Farmers’ Cooperative, made up of mostly black and Hispanic blueberry and vegetable growers. “Our goal is to have a receiving processing plant,” she said.

She also works with USDA Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, the USDA Risk Management Agency and the Sustainable Agriculture and Research & Education Program with the University of Nebraska. Norman also works for the Michigan Integrated Food and Farming Systems.