C and T Produce
is Farm Fresh
Thanks for your interest in our history. I'm Tracy, half of C&T. We started farming in 1991. Craig grew up on a produce farm. His parents own Rick's & Van's in King George County. So, as a child and young adult, he learned all the basics of growing vegetables. He even sold on the markets, years ago. That's where we met. I was on the way home from college and stopped by the market downtown for some fresh fruit. He gave me a couple of cantaloupes and said "Take these sweet things home with you." Well, that was a line right off the farm, but hey, it worked! We got married less than a year later and started our own farm. We weren't very creative and used our initials. C-Craig. T-Tracy. C&T Produce. And I'll bet you thought it was corn and tomatoes! LOL
After we started our own business, we tried some new techniques of farming. One that has worked very well is growing crops on plastic mulch. This is long strips of plastic that a machine lays in the field over rows of soil. We poke holes in the plastic, and place the plant in it. Irrigation is under the plastic, so little water is lost to evaporation. Also, the need for herbicides is greatly reduced, because there are few weeds in the hole where the plant is. Different colors of plastic mulch also deter bugs. So, this helps us reduce the amout of pesticide needed. It's a great way to grow most any crop.
We started all of this on a small farm of about 30 acres in Stafford County and one small farm market. A great customer base and a good variety of produce have helped us grow tremendously. We now grow over 400 acres of crops and have many markets throughout the area each week.
Thanks to all of our loyal customers and our many new ones for
allowing us to continue farming. We are one of the few real farm
families left in the area. We really appreciate you---our customers.
