From “Moody on the Market”, by Pat Moody 01/22/2015
The legend of High Acres Fruit Farm in Hartford has a new milestone with the election this week of a member of the Meachum family to the chairmanship of the Michigan Commission of Agriculture & Rural Development.
Trever Meachum is Production Manager for High Acres Fruit Farm, and his election Wednesday has been announced by the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development.
Meachum comes from a family owned and operated farm that had its beginnings back in 1942 when Glenn & Catherine Meachum purchased 80-acres of land in Hartford Township of Van Buren County to raise peaches and cherries. Over the years since that foundation was set, the Meachum family has expanded and diversified the farm. Courtesy of the modernization of commercial greenhouse construction and design, the farm looks fairly different these days.
High Acres Fruit Farm now farms 2,500 acres of a variety of fruit crops along with vegetables and row crops including apples, plums, cherries, nectarines, strawberries, grapes, peppers, tomatoes, corn, soybeans, and wheat.
Meachum will chair the commission for the 2015-2016 growing year. The new Vice Chair is Fred Walcott, who works alongside his parents and two sisters at Valley View Pork, a family-owned 4,000 acre farm raising hogs, and producing corn, wheat and soybeans. The new commission Secretary is Dru Montri, who owns & operates Ten Hens Farm in Bath, Michigan. She has also been the director of the Michigan Farmers Market Association since its inception 9 years ago in 2006.
Jamie Clover Adams is Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development. She says, “I’m grateful for the willingness of these individuals to serve Michigan’s food and agricultural community.” She adds, “Our state’s dynamic food and agriculture sector is ripe with opportunities and I look forward to working with the Commission as we continue our upward growth trend.”
Meachum’s family also owns and operates Meachum Farms Trucking and Paw Paw River Produce — a cold storage and warehousing facility. The farm launched the Spencer brand tomato label in 2005, a brand now recognized throughout the Midwest and East coast as a premium product brand.
The Meachum crew’s accolades also include the Michigan Farm Bureau Farm Stewardship Award in 2006, and a year later in 2007 the Master Farmer Award from the Michigan Vegetable Council.
The Michigan Commission of Agriculture & Rural Development is a bipartisan board appointed by the Governor with the responsibility to recommend and, in some cases, determine, policy on food, agriculture, and rural development issues.
In the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market.com, Trever Meachum is shown standing on the far right of the photo behind the cab of the truck.
