Posted by Admin on 26 May, 2020
Photographer George Steinmetz spent nearly a year traveling to capture that system, in all its scope, grandeur and dizzying scale. His photographs are all the more remarkable for the fact that so few large food producers are willing to open themselves to this sort of public view.
Cranberry cultivation began in Massachusetts, and it still brings to mind quaint images of New England. But the bogs that farmers have created in Wisconsin can be more efficient — they’re both flatter and neatly rectangular, making them easier for machines to fertilize, irrigate and harvest.
Product: Cranberries Facility: Bennett Cranberry Company Location: Cranmoor, Wisc. Output: Approximately 3.5 million pounds per year
During its busiest season, Gary’s Gobblers might have up to 60,000 turkeys living on five acres of its 160-acre facility. The worker seen here is spraying an antibacterial solution into the turkey pens to prevent disease.
Product: Turkeys Facility: Gary’s Gobblers Location: Northeastern Iowa Output: 150,000 turkeys per year
Grimmway is one of the largest carrot growers in the world. In this part of the Malaga facility, whole carrots are washed, sized and cut into two-inch “baby” pieces before passing through color sorters where 360-degree high-speed cameras and sensors spot defective carrots and air jets push them off the line for use in juices or cattle feed.
Product: Carrots Facility: Grimmway Farms’ Malaga facility Location: Kern County, Calif. Output: 25 million pounds of carrots per week
By World War II, the J.R. Simplot Company had become the nation’s largest shipper of fresh potatoes; by 2005, it was said to be the source of more than half of all McDonald’s French fries. This 750-acre feedlot resulted from a realization by its billionaire owner, John Richard.
Product: Cattle Facility: Simplot Cattle Feedlot Location: Grand View, Idaho Output: 150,000 head of cattle
The product being harvested here, Artisan Lettuce, requires seeding a variety of greens in each row — scheduling them all to come to maturity simultaneously — so they can be packaged in the field and sold as a salad-ready assortment.
Product: Greens and other produce Facility: Tanimura & Antle Location: Salinas, Calif. Output: 740,000 tons of produce in 2015
The hills of the Palouse region, stretching along the border between Idaho and Washington, have some of the most productive wheat-growing conditions in the country, with average yields that can run over 100 bushels per acre. Landowners are reluctant to sell, but they increasingly lease their fields to neighboring family farms.
Product: Wheat & legumes Facility: Boyer Land & Cattle Location: Lapwai, Idaho Output: 40,000 acres of wheat and legumes
At 376 feet, with a net more than half a mile long, the Alaska Ocean is the largest “catcher-processor” vessel in the United States fleet. On a given day, the ship’s facilities might process Alaska pollock or Pacific whiting into 60,000 pounds of fishmeal and 125,000 pounds of frozen fish.
Product: Fish Facility: Glacier Fish Company’s Alaska Ocean Location: Eastern Pacific Ocean Output: 150 metric tons
The two rotating carousels of this milking parlor operate 22 hours a day, milking 7,900 cows three times each. Rosendale Dairy, like Calf Source and Heifer Source, is owned by Milk Source.
Product: Milk and dairy Facility: Rosendale Dairy Location: Pickett, Wisc. Output: 8,376,000 pounds of milk per year — approx one million gallons
