A passion to grow on Ferme Vienneau

by George Fullerton

On the first Monday in May, things at Ferme Vienneau (Vienneau Farm) in southeastern New Brunswick seemed pretty busy, with staff in a number of greenhouses loading out trays of bedding plants and loading in freshly planted trays.

“As soon as we can get on the land, we will be real busy putting in long hours tilling and planting,” said Paul Vienneau. “At the same time, we will see more and more traffic to our greenhouses and farm store. Lots of people looking for bedding and garden plants, and we also supply customers with gardening supplies like peat moss, potting soil mixes, lime, and fertilizer.”

He continued, “Meanwhile, the greenhouses stay in full production, and we make deliveries to garden centres and stores around Moncton and Sackville, and also to Bathurst and Lamèque, Sussex, and into Nova Scotia. We get very busy, no time to stop to talk then. The season is short and we have a very busy schedule.”

Located in Saint-Andre-LeBlanc, about 20 kilometres east of Shediac, Ferme Vienneau encompasses 30 greenhouses and about 150 acres in vegetables and strawberries.

Leandre Vienneau began the operation in the 1930s with three greenhouses and 15 acres of crops. His son Omer, who’s now 77, began working on the farm in the 1950s and continues to manage the operation along with his wife Laura and their sons Mike and Paul.

“My father started with a couple of greenhouses, and he would supply businesses in Shediac and Moncton,” said Omer. “Through the 1950s, he added more greenhouses and crops. In the 1970s, I took over the management and we were operating seven or eight greenhouses and other crops. Our main markets were in Moncton and we supplied to other smaller communities in our region.”

Through the spring, the Vienneaus will plant potatoes, cabbage, turnip, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, carrots, beets, squash, and pumpkins. Many of those crops will be started in the greenhouses and then transplanted to the fields.

“We are seeing a lot more customers looking for herbs for transplanting,” said Omer. “The demand is so great that we planted twice as much as last year, and I expect we will increase that production again for next year.”

The Vienneaus buy premixed potting soil from Sun Gro Horticulture Canada Ltd. While they have an automatic planter, which works well for many plant varieties, some odd-sized seeds are planted manually.

GREENHOUSE SETUP

The greenhouses have wooden frames and are built on concrete pads.

“We used to build our own trusses with two-by-five lumber we got from Seacoast Sawmill just down the road,” said Omer. “The last few we built, we used trusses from a truss plant. Greenhouse plastic comes in rolls measuring 100 foot by 40 foot, so we build our new greenhouses 90 by 29 feet, which uses up a roll of plastic nicely.”

Each greenhouse is heated by its own oil furnace.

“In the past, we have used coal and wood to heat, but each of those has their challenges,” said Omer. “Oil is convenient and cost-effective.”

And he said that there are circulation fans in the greenhouses for heat distribution and to prevent mould and mildew.

Paul added, “We have used sprinkler systems in the greenhouses, but we found that the sunny side would dry out faster than the shaded side. When we tried to get moisture up on the dry side, the shaded side was too wet and that caused problems. We found the best way to ensure the right amount of water across the greenhouse is to have people manually water. They judge the power of the sun and evaporation rate, and then they water accordingly.”

Omer said that the greenhouse plastic can last four to five years, as long as it’s kept tight and there are no holes accidently poked in it.

“Several greenhouses have double plastic skins for early crops planted in winter,” he added. “We are seeing increasing demand for several crops we start under double plastic, so we will be doing more to meet demand.”

Omer said they keep a keen eye on snow loads and get out with shovels when snow is stressing the plastic. “We lost several greenhouses this past winter and we would have lost more if we had not done a lot of shovelling,” he said.

OUT IN THE FIELDS

The first field crop planted is sprouted potatoes, which produce an early and important niche crop. Omer and Paul said the early potatoes are in high demand and bring a good return. Ferme Vienneau also has later-season potatoes and they keep some spuds in storage through to the spring for farm store customers.

The Vienneaus use a lot of plastic mulch to give their field crops a boost. They install drip tape along with the mulch to drip-irrigate the mulched crops.

They can also irrigate the crops that aren’t mulched.

“We have an 8,000-gallon tanker (truck) and a manifold system to get moisture to the crops if they are drying out,” said Omer. “We have wells, in addition to 12 ponds, for water supply. In addition to drip irrigation for the mulched crops, we have irrigation guns. We can irrigate about 12 acres at a time.”

The Vienneaus’ on-farm store gets busy in May selling bedding plants, flowers, and gardening supplies. The Vienneaus also buy garden seeds in bulk and repackage some to sell in their store.

The farm store continues to serve customers through the summer and into the autumn as the harvest comes in.

Grain production is an important element of the Vienneaus’ crop rotation plan. They sell oat, barley, and Fall rye grain, and usually all their straw. They then buy straw from P.E.I. for mulching their strawberries.

“The reason we buy straw is because we have a bale shredder built for five-foot bales,” said Omer. “Our baler is four-foot wide, and the shredder does not handle them well at all. We have found that we get more done if we sell our straw and then go buy five-foot bales. It doesn’t make or cost money, but it does make covering strawberries a lot easier.” 

DELIVERING PLANTS

When bedding plant sales are in full swing, the Vienneaus operate two tractor-trailers and a pickup truck hauling an enclosed trailer.

Paul usually makes the longer runs to the North Shore with one tractor-trailer, delivering to stores and garden centres along the way and finishing off in either Bathurst or Tracadie. Omer typically operates the second tractor-trailer, delivering to customers in the Moncton and Shediac region. The pickup truck is also dedicated to regional deliveries.

In years past, Ferme Vienneau was a major supplier to wholesale companies and supermarket distribution centres, as well as exporting container loads overseas. But they backed away from wholesale because returns were marginal.

However, they do continue to supply truckloads to wholesale company Sussex Valley Vegetable Farms. “They have good market connections and good facilities for storing, grading, and packaging, so we do supply certain crops to them on occasion,” said Omer.

Both Omer and Paul said that their success is wholly dependent on their dedicated, hard-working staff.

“Through the spring, we have about 15 people working, in addition to family, operating the greenhouses, getting crops in the ground, and marketing,” said Omer. “When strawberries come on in July, staffing will increase to 25 or 30. In the autumn, we get back to about 15 employees. All our staff live within 10 miles of our farm.”

Most employees specialize in specific seasonal work on the farm.

“Our crews are not the same through the seasons,” said Omer. “Some people come for the bedding plant season but don’t fit in to field season, and then some people come specifically for the harvest season. My wife Laura handles all the paperwork, including payrolls, government remittances, and so on. It is a really major job. Paul’s wife Carole works for the farm. Mike’s sons Marc and Luc also work on our farm.”

The Ferme Vienneau store was built about 15 years ago.

“We move a lot of product through the store,” said Omer. “The bulk of our customers come from within a half-hour driving distance, which includes Moncton, Shediac, Amherst, Sackville, and Bouctouche. Customer recruitment is mainly word of mouth. We will get phone calls asking are we open. They heard about us from someone. ‘How do we find your place?’”

No matter what the season or what the work schedule, Ferme Vienneau has a welcoming atmosphere and high-quality products.