Philip Mason, owner of Crossroad Farm in Thetford, VT, has been working on this farm for over 10 years, but is not held back by the way things have always been done. He has an open mind and is always looking for ways to improve and take the business to the next level. When he realized that their wash/pack was a limiting factor, plans for upgrades and even a new building were placed on the table.
About Crossroad Farm
- 56 acres in diversified vegetables
- 45 acres in cultivation
- 20 high tunnels/greenhouses
- Main crops: Tomatoes, bedding plants, vegetable starts and salad greens
- Retail farmstand & wholesale accounts
- 20’x30’ (600 sq. ft)
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The Wash Garage
The packshed that this farm has used for several decades was built by the previous owner in 1985. It includes a concrete floor, a cooler, and overhead doors on both sides of the building.
The team uses spray tables for bunched crops like carrots and radishes, and recently added a Grindstone barrel washer for topped roots. For salad greens, they use dunk tanks for triple washing and a bubbler with Sanidate sanitizer is used as the last tank. The greens then get spun dry in Salad Ace greens spinners.
Products are then stored in the cooler in flip top totes and orders are packed on the stainless steel table.
Challenges
This wash area has worked well for over 40 years for a few reasons. Phil shares that it is sited well: centralized relative to the overall flow of the farm. It’s oriented in a way that makes sense for products to flow from the fields to the delivery van. Not only does this building enable an efficient flow on the farm, but the flow through the building is also efficient. Harvested crops enter from the south and move north in a linear fashion.
The challenge now is that all this washing equipment doesn’t fit under one roof. The building is about 20 feet by 30 feet and includes a cooler. They have expanded the working area with pop-up tents, which help shelter the crew from weather, but is not ideal. Rain falls between the tents, and overall they don’t provide a sturdy structure for activities that happen all season long. Secondly, this expanded area has poor drainage, so they end up working in standing water and soil that is washed from the crops.
Floor Plan
So What’s Next?
The major upgrade happening in 2024 at Crossroad Farm is the construction of a new washpack building. They have taken down an old barn so the new structure can be sited in an ideal location. The new footprint will be 35 feet by 50 feet and feature an 8’ shed roof off the 50’ side for additional covered space. The foundation will feature a curb to help retail the water and sloped to a central drain. This space will be conditioned to improve the working conditions. A new cooler will be twice the size of the existing one, with a space saving sliding door, large enough for pallet bins for moving larger quantities of vegetables from time to time.
The washline will be getting an upgrade as well with an addition of an AZS Rinse Conveyor to help reduce labor from hand washing everything. They are looking forward to using this machine specifically for carrots, radishes, and herbs.
Advice for Other’s
“Place your wash pack in a site that can expand as your business grows.”
Phil’s Goals for the space include making it comfortable for his crew, letting in plenty of natural sunlight, and conditioning the space.
Virtual Tour
Explore this wash/pack area through this virtual tour.
