The Turner family has been operating Turners Fresh Market since 1963. The lineage of farmers goes back to the 1840s in the Turner family. Ross and Deb Turner began by growing a wide variety of vegetables and marketed them directly (sometimes campsite to campsite) in the Waupaca Chain-of-Lakes region. Tara Turner is the next generation on the farm. Tara did her graduate studies in New England on Community Supported Agriculture and returned to help her parents with their farm
The Turners grow predominantly sweet corn but they also have a very diversified offering including squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, greenhouse plants and transplants and much more. They have a large on-farm sales area where you can get all their products. They also grow crops for the local canning factories. The Turners love the crops of course, but it is their connection to the land that truly sustains them. From the corn tassels blowing in the breeze to the “pet” vole that sometimes runs alongside the tractor as the first rays of sun glint the early morning sun, sustainability and connectedness is at the core of this operation.
The Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative is important to the Turners because they see it as an opportunity for, “Diversification, specialization and collaboration. It will allow our farm to expand our wholesale market and allow for more idea sharing between farmers.”