Business & Tech

A Sense of Pride and Commitment That Runs Deeper Than the Flood Waters

Despite devastating losses, a Cranford farm recovers following Hurricane Irene.

It's just about 7 a.m. at Dreyer Farms in Cranford. There's still mist in the air and a heavy coating of morning dew on the grass. Most lights are still turned off in the nearby homes and only a few cars travel along Springfield Avenue, many of them heading to Union County College, less than a block away. But the day is already in full swing on the farm.

A few workers are in the fields, checking on the crops and starting up tractors; others mill around the farmstead, arranging produce, picking through bushels of beans and setting up shop in anticipation of the stream of customers that will visit the store throughout the day. It's a well-oiled machine, where everyone is busy and there doesn't appear to be a shortage of produce or plants. To watch the early-morning hustle and bustle, you would never know that just over a month ago, the entire operation was devastated by flood waters from Hurricane Irene. But that's how it's always been on the 107-year-old farm, where Mother Nature makes the rules and the farmers find ways to make things grow, despite the hardships.

Getting back to business...

The recovery process following the hurricane has been somewhat slow. Everything had to be re-planted after the fields were flooded by rain - crops, after all, don't grow overnight. Vegetables that grow on vines - such as pumpkins - were hardest hit. In fact, pumpkins crops throughout the Northeast took a hit, as wet weather pummeled the region throughout the spring and summer months. This year, Dreyer Farms - like other produce sellers - is selling pumpkins and gourds that have been trucked in from other regions.

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Henry Dreyer, one of the owners of the farm, explained that following Hurricane Irene, the workers were forced to "plow down" the entire field, disposing of all the crops, just before they were ready to harvest.

"This was by far the worst storm we've ever had. We just didn't know what was in that water," Dreyer said, explaining that the flood waters that submerged the farm and adjacent store likely contained raw sewage, oil and other chemicals that could cause illness if it were to seep into the crops. With E. coli outbreaks becoming more frequent in the last year, Dreyer said he didn't want to risk contaminating his crops. Everything from beans and broccoli to cauliflower, radishes and spinach were ripped from the ground and disposed of. The plants that are growing in the fields today are about a month old and able to sustain harsh weather and frosts that are typical in the fall months.

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But it wasn't just the crops that sustained damage when the flood waters began to rise to levels Dreyer had never before seen. His equipment - such as tractors and other machinery - were also damaged.

"Myself and a mechanic worded three weeks on them," Dreyer said of the tractors, which had to be drained of oil and fuel and repaired. "You can't dwell on it though. We didn't suffer any more hardship than anyone else in town."

Inside the famrstand, lines have been drawn on a wall next to the tomatoes. Each of the three lines has a date next to it. The lowest - just a few inches from the floor, inicates how much flood water seeped into the building during a storm on April 14, 2007. A few more inches  above that is the date Sept. 16, 1999. Then there's the line dated Aug. 28, 2011, drawn at least three feet above the others. It's a powerful and constant reminder of the damage that the recent storm left in its wake.

Just weeks after the hurricane, Dreyer Farms took a big step in an effort to move forward and leave the flood waters behind them, the business hosted a "farm-to-table" dinner served right in the field. The meal was prepared by the chefs from Boulevard 572, a restaurant in nearby Kenilworth that picked produce from the farm in the morning and prepared in that evening. It was one step on the road to recovery for the farm.

It hasn't exactly been easy. Then again, farming is notoriously hard work. It's a seven-day a week operation, but as Dreyer's grandfather used to say, "the corn doesn't know it's Sunday."

In the beginning...

Sitting outside the back door of the white, 1939 farmhouse where he was born and raised, and where his mother lived until her death, Dreyer said the home was the only part of the operation that didn't flood when Hurricane Irene hit. With the farm's greenhouses several yards behind him, he explained that when his grandfather was having the house built, he was told that for a few extra dollars, the structure could be raised a couple of feet higher. The deal was made and despite the floods that have occured over the last 15 years, they've rarely gotten more than a few of inches of water in the basement.

The farm itself began in 1904, when brothers Gustav and Henry Dreyer - the current owner's grandfather - purchased adjacent farms on Springfield Avenue. Their acreage grew and shrank over the next 50 years until it ended up the size it is now. In fact, a portion of the farmland that the Dreyers tend in Union County was originally part of the estate of former New Jersey Gov. William Livingston. Tha acreage is now located on the ground of Liberty Hall Museum in Union. Today the business is called Dreyer Farms, reflecting the two original adjacent farm operations.

Both farms started out as wholesale farms called truck farms. According to the farm's website, Gustav and Henry would pick their crops, load them onto a truck and drive them to the larger produce markets in Elizabeth or Newark. In 1949, Henry's daughter-in-law, Henrietta, opened the roadside market in Cranford. That same building, plus a few additions, make up the current farm on Springfield Avenue.

Today, the market is run by Henry and Henrietta's two sons, Henry Jr. and John. Henry Jr. continues the growing side of the business as the farmer and greenhouse operator while John handles the market and sells the flowers, plants and produce.

Dreyer recalls his boyhood years on the farm, when he and his brother would play outdoors, scamper through the woods, build boats and help with some chores on the farm. It was a peaceful enough life, but it wasn't one that Henry planned to pursue into adulthood. A political sciene major at East Stroudsburg University, Dreyer said he wanted to serve in the "foreign service" afer college. He ended up joining the Army Reserves, serving a six-month tour of duty and then returning home, where he eventually found himself back on the family farm. Today, as he roams with farm with his blonde hair - made lighter from hours spent in the fields - and slightly sunburned skin, Dreyer is happy with his decision to remain in the family business.

"The interesting thing about being a farmer is that no day is ever the same," he said. "It doesn't get monotinous."


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