In the AGRI 130 course, students learned about the federal Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and saw it implemented on the tour. Fifer explained that while regulations and paperwork are necessary, some commercial accounts require additional audits for food safety and ethical labor practices, which are expensive to undergo. Each retailer may insist on a particular way of packaging, labeling and tracking. 

Fifer is concerned for beginning farmers who do not have the acreage nor the infrastructure in place to handle the regulatory procedures. 

“It is hard to be a small farmer; they would have to pay for the audits, the same expenses, but not produce the number of cases — it’s hard for them to enter the market. There should be competition,” Fifer said. “But it takes decades to become established.”

Agriculture land prices are high, limiting new and established farmers from expanding. 

“I found it interesting to learn about some of the obstacles Fifer Orchards faces,” said Brielle Carter, a sophomore agriculture and natural resources major. “Farmland is hard to come across and is quickly disappearing. It raises the question of how farmers can keep up with the demand for food on less land.” 

Curt’s brother Bobby deals with the day-to-day decisions and seasonal plans for planting crops. David Fifer oversees all the farm infrastructure, equipment repair and engineering needs. 

One of the challenges, Bobby Fifer said, besides weather and disease pressure, is deciding what crops will be planted for the following year and how much acreage to devote per crop.

Fifer broke down the allocation, with sweet corn and pumpkins taking the lion's share. Many acres are devoted to tomatoes, other specialty fruits and “U-Pick” public harvesting. 

The orchard’s tree fruit crops have their ups and downs. 

“Apples are taking a downhill slide – they are not a viable crop anymore in Delaware. It has gotten too hot and humid to grow a quality crop,” Bobby Fifer said. 

The retail store imports multiple varieties grown in cooler climates. 

“We are trying to put our ‘eggs in another basket’ and will try to move on,” Fifer said.

Peaches remain a successful orchard crop, Fifer told the students, but success depends greatly on the weather. Good and bad years fluctuate, with a late spring frost the biggest threat to peaches. “But we had a good year this year,” Bobby Fifer said.

Bobby Fifer is currently evaluating “planting into green,” a practice where a tall cover crop, such as rye, is allowed to grow and is bent to lay horizontally on the ground with a roller-crimper. Planting a new crop into the flattened biomass helps keep sandy soils moist and reduces weeds. 

“There are a lot of practices out there that are really interesting, but the challenge is you only have one chance a year to try it,” Fifer said. 

The students saw 31 high tunnels where tomatoes are grown. 

“I found it interesting how much more production their tomato plants get when planted under high tunnels,” said Carson Mears, a sophomore agriculture and natural resources major. “They allow for the vegetables to be grown for an additional 12 weeks since they can be produced earlier and later than normal tomato production.” 

The tour ended with a visit to the store to meet Fifer's first cousin, Michael Fenemore, who manages the retail storefront locations, agritourism and an 18-week community-supported agriculture subscription known as CSA. Fennemore also developed Fifer’s successful agritourism venue, which includes a pumpkin patch, corn maze, “U-Pick,” and seasonal festivals.

“The biggest challenge? We are in a people business, so we’re constantly looking for the right mix of folks across the board, such as farm kitchen, farm store, fork-lift driver, tractor driver — a variety of jobs, not just running the cash register,” Fennemore said. “A lot of different skill sets are needed, but they are all seasonal, six to eight months, so we’re looking for a specific person who is okay with that.”

Tony Mini, a student in the UD Associate in Arts Program who attends the class simultaneously taught in Georgetown, Delaware, is a frequent Fifer’s customer, traveling with his family from Lewes at least twice a month during the growing and harvest seasons.

“One thing I really enjoyed from this field trip was getting the behind-the-scenes tour of how things work at Fifers, especially when we have been multiple times,” Mini said.

That’s music to Mike Fennemore’s ears. 

“We consider this a destination,” Fennemore said. “We aren’t located off of a major highway like Route 1 or Route 13. People come here because they want to.”

“The field trips for our class provide insightful information about today's agricultural concepts,” Mears said. “Seeing the family farm operation at Fifer Orchards not only provoked my interest in agriculture more than it already is, but it made me want to be a producer of some sort in my future.”