Andrew Cummings amekuwa akipanda viazi maisha yake yote, lakini halimi shamba kama wazazi wake walilima.
Kwa miongo kadhaa, familia ya mkulima wa kizazi cha tano Andrew Cummings walikuwa wamelima shamba lao shamba la familia karibu na Johnville, NB Andrew alianza kulima mwenyewe alipokuwa mchanga na kwa miaka mingi alikuwa na ndoto ya kupanua shamba, lakini ardhi haikupatikana katika eneo hilo - mnamo 2016, hiyo ilibadilika. “Nilipata fursa ya kununua shamba lingine. Ni karibu maili 40 kutoka mahali nilipokulia. Niliishia kuuza shamba langu la nyumbani na kuhama,” Andrew anasema katika mahojiano ya simu.
He had been running late to a grower meeting for McCain Foods when he got talking to another grower who was also running late. The man mentioned he was looking to retire, one thing led to another, and a few nights later the two met. A plan was quickly made for Andrew to buy the retiring growers’ farm in Bloomfield, N.B.
That wasn’t the only farm Andrew bought. He also bought a neighbouring farm, and in the end, was able to double his potato acreage and triple his contract volume with McCain Foods. Some changes had to be made though. On his old farm he had raised beef cattle, but the new farms didn’t have the infrastructure for livestock, so the cows were sold.
“I’ve moved to an area with better-quality topsoil than I had where I grew up. The ground is better, and I do have a neighbour here that is a large dairy farmer. I swap ground with them,” he explains. Andrew now plants 450 to 500 acres of dryland potatoes annually with rotation crops of soybeans, wheat and hay. He mainly plants processing potatoes for McCain Foods, but he also grows his own Russet Burbank mbegu.
“We grow between two and three different varieties depending on the year — the Russet Burbank being like 85 per cent of what we grow. So, we grow that seed but if we grow Shepody’s or Innovators or something else that (McCain) wants us to try, we buy that usually from them,” he adds. His father James was the one who started growing seed on the farm. At the time, Andrew had just joined the farm full time and James saw there was opportunity for them to expand their production into seed growing.
"Watu wengine walikuwa wakifanya hivyo wakati huo na aliichukua, na alihisi nilikuwa na hamu ya kutosha kupanda viazi ili kuanza," Andrew anasema.
Babake Andrew amestaafu, lakini bado husaidia shambani nyakati fulani. Mwanawe Evan anahudhuria Chuo Kikuu cha New Brunswick akifanya kazi shambani majira ya joto, wakati mke wake Dale ana kazi nje ya shamba lakini anafanya vitabu vya shambani pia. Binti yake Claire, ambaye yuko shule ya upili, husaidia wakati wa kupanda na kuvuna shambani. Wanaajiri wafanyikazi wa msimu wanne hadi watano wakati wa msimu wa kilimo, na 15 wameajiriwa kwa mavuno.
Wakati wa majira ya baridi kali kazi ya shambani inapopungua, wao hukata mbao kwa ajili ya kinu cha mbao laini. "Pia tuna mbao nyingi, sio biashara kubwa kwetu lakini kila mara tumekata kuni kidogo kila msimu wa baridi," Andrew anaongeza. "Sisi sio mtayarishaji au kitu chochote, inatupa tu kitu cha kufanya ili kuwafanya michache yetu kuwa na shughuli nyingi."
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