Garwoods Host Row Crop Tour
Published: Friday, August 14, 2026
Garwood Orchards & Farm Market hosted the LaPorte County Row Crop Food Producers' annual Ag Tour and Barbecue last Tuesday evening. Also sponsoring the event was LaPorte County Farm Bureau. A crowd of over 200 people boarded wagons for a tour of the orchard and vegetable fields.
One of the main themes visitors heard during the tour was that fruit and vegetable growers work hard to produce food for consumers.
The Garwoods produce fruit and vegetables on 600 acres on eight farms near LaPorte. The sixth-generation farm began in 1831 and currently includes brothers Brian and Mike Garwood and their cousin, Tom Garwood. Tom's son, Matt, works full-time at the farm and represents the seventh generation.
Vegetable crops are grown on 60% of the acreage, while tree and berry crops are produced on the other 40%.
A large percentage of the crops are sold to wholesale markets, like Walmart, Meijer and a couple of well-known food distributors. The family also has its own retail farm market with a bakery and U-pick operation.
Selling to wholesale markets has advantages and disadvantages, according to Mike. The Garwoods have contracts with their buyers, and those contracts provide a low, but stable price.
"We try not to use the free market, because it is too up and down and too inconsistent," he said. "It's not great money on contracts, but it's not the gutter. We just can't take the risk, so we contract out the prices for the year."
The weather has not been very kind to area vegetable producers this year, Mike said.
"It's probably the worst we've had in 20 years," he said. "In June until July 8, we had 24 inches of rain here. That's the worst thing you want for vegetables. It spreads disease. For bell peppers, we lost close to 20% of the acreage to disease."
Tree fruit crops like cherries, plums and Asian pears suffered total losses from a frost on May 2, according to Brian. Half the peach crop was lost. Apples were the exception; they will produce a good crop this year, he said.
Blackberries are also growing well. Brian said the family grows a thornless variety that produces large, plump berries and tastes sweeter than the ones sold in grocery stores. However, the plant doesn't survive in extremely cold temperatures. During the winter, the Garwoods lay each plant on the ground, cover them with plastic and put sandbags on top.
"If you don't do that . . . you won't have any," he said. "It's a lot of work, because you have to go in after harvest, take out all the old canes, attach all the new ones to the wire by hand. Everything we do is labor-intensive."
In all, the Garwoods grow 30 different crops, including 20 varieties of apples.
Other crops include sweet corn, strawberries, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, tomatillos, pumpkins and many others. Demand for those crops is good, but, as Brian pointed out, growers face strong headwinds.
"The biggest problems with this business right now, like any farm, I guess, are labor and government regulation," he said. "When I was growing up, my friends and I would be out here picking side by side with Dad, and we didn't think it was bad. If you wanted to have money to have a car, that's how you had to do it. That's not the case today."
Over half of Garwood's labor force consists of migrant labor. Brian said they are "great" workers, and without them, vegetable farms would not exist. All the crops, except for sweet corn, are hand-harvested.
"No matter how hard I want to work or how smart I might think I am, you're not going to have a farm if you don't have these people," Brian said, referring to migrants. "When you hear people say they're stealing American jobs, take it from me . . ."
He added that migrant workers perform tasks that most Americans don't want to do.
The economics of fruit and vegetable farming is also dramatically different compared to 20 years ago. The establishment cost for one acre of peppers is $10,000, and it's about twice that number for one acre of apples, Brian said.
The earliest apple trees on the farm were planted without stakes. Branches grew horizontally, limiting the density to about 150 trees per acre. However, as new technology was introduced, the Garwoods were able to plant more trees and get more production.
Carrie Garwood, Brian's wife, said staking the trees allowed them to plant 300 trees per acre.
"And now the newest way is the trellis system, with a four-wire trellis," she said. "You get about 1,200 trees per acre that way."
She said those trees are easier to maintain and also produce better quality apples.
"They don't require as much pruning just because the root stock by itself keeps it a smaller, thinner tree," she said.
After the tour concluded, visitors were treated to a pork chop dinner. Members of the South Central FFA chapter were on hand to serve the delicious food to guests. Sweet corn and fruit bowls were courtesy of the Garwood family.
After dinner, the Row Crop Food Producers presented scholarships to four young people headed to college this fall. Each scholarship is worth $1,500. Recipients included: Ella Spencer, Ava Redlin and Steven Poe, all of LaPorte, and Jolie Klimczak of Hannah.
Indiana Farm Bureau District 1, which includes LaPorte County, also presented two scholarships during the ag tour. Receiving $1,000 scholarships were Kerslynn Collins of North Judson and Olivia Taylor of Malden. Collins is headed to Huntington University this fall, while Taylor will attend Purdue University.
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