BURLINGTON, Wis. — At Geneva Lakes Produce, if you name it, there’s a good chance Corban Koster and his team grow it.
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“We’re a produce farm. We do some fruits and lots of different vegetables. We specialize in being unique and growing all the weird stuff that you have a hard time finding,” Koster said.
They’ve built a reputation for offering both staple crops and unusual produce you won’t find in most grocery stores. Alongside sweet corn, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, watermelon and cantaloupe, Koster grows okra, purple hull peas, kohlrabi, and even plants hardened off in the local climate so they’re tougher when customers transplant them into their own gardens.
Watch: Burlington produce farm battles wet fields, delays during key planting time
“With over 100 different crops, timing is everything — especially in the spring planting season,” Koster explained. “There’s a short window to be able to plant things on time, in a timely manner, in order to get a crop while people want it.”
That window depends on Wisconsin’s unpredictable weather. After winter, the ground has to thaw and dry enough to work before planting can begin. Farmers aim to line up crops — frost‑tolerant first, then frost‑sensitive varieties — so that each one has enough time to grow before the cold returns.
“Every bit of time I have to wait on putting in the frost‑tolerant stuff… I’m gonna spill into making my frost‑sensitive stuff take even longer,” Koster said.
Over the last several days, heavy rain, flooding, high winds, and storms have hit the Burlington area. For Geneva Lakes Produce’s 400 acres, the impact has been dramatic. About 40 percent of the land is dry enough to plant, but the other 60 percent is still too wet to work.
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That makes it hard to stick to crop rotation schedules, a practice Koster uses to reduce pests and disease by planting different crops in different fields from year to year.
“Right now, the hardest ones that take a long time… that’d be onions and potatoes. Those are huge,” Koster said. “By the time we do get them done, we’ll be spilling out into the frost‑sensitive stuff, and it’ll push back our ability to plant watermelon and cantaloupe and tomatoes and stuff like that.”
Another worry: planting too soon in wet soil.
“If the ground is too wet when you work it… you can mess the soil up for the season,” Koster said. Working muddy ground can lead to large, heavy clumps around seeds instead of fine, sandy soil, reducing germination rates and hurting plant growth. “The worst part is that soil is now messed up for the whole year.”
Delays now can cause more crops to miss their optimal planting window, leading to harvests that come late in the season — often after customers have moved on.
“Missing that time period is crucial for us, because now here we are with this abundance of homegrown crops that people aren’t as excited about just because they’re a few weeks later,” Koster said.
For farmers focused on fresh produce, harvesting later than planned can mean surplus crops and reduced sales, especially after Labor Day when demand for summer produce drops.
“With more rain in the forecast Monday, this weekend may be pivotal for us,” Koster said. “If the community is always there for us — we’ll always get through it.”
Despite the difficulties this year, Koster remains committed to the work.
“Every year has its own special difficulty… there’s always going to be something,” he said. “We’re here every year pushing through the difficulties, and so are other local farms.”
For farmers like Koster, success this season will depend on what happens over just the next few days — and whether the weather finally gives them a break.
Learn More: https://www.genevalakesproduce.com/
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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