Locals and visitors bought the sweet onions at the Vidalia Farmers’ Market and were hooked on “Vidalia Onions,” a name that’s now protected by trademark and Georgia law.
Today, Vidalia Onions are shipped worldwide. And few operations are as impressive as Smith Family Farms, which grows, boxes, and transports the state’s official vegetable from its homebase in Cobbtown.
Mack Waller, who runs Smith Family Farms with his farther-in-law Ty Powell, said the local soil gives the onions their distinctive flavor. That sweet characteristic extends to other crops, including one of their favorites – carrots.
Powell and Waller have rented land from Farmland Partners since 2016.
Waller explained the process of getting carrots from the ground to store shelves in Canada, where they sell the produce.
We harvest one row at a time and there are two belts at the bottom that pull the carrot up by the top…then cuts with some knives and it drops the carrot down out onto the conveyor belt.
It goes through our processer and polisher and a chiller, which cools the carrot…to 34 – 36 degrees. Then it goes into a bulk box, 1,484 pounds. Then it goes from there straight to Canada.
In Canada, Waller said the large carrots they ship are further sliced into baby carrots, bagged, and placed in groceries.
Picking and eating carrots particularly delights Waller’s four-year-old son.
“Every chance he gets, he’s on a tractor with me,” Waller said. “Me and my father-in-law want to see [the farm] succeed for my son and his kids in the future.”
Me and my father-in-law want to see [the farm] succeed for my son and his kids in the future.
Mack Waller
