08/18/08 VerMeer family farm

When Norman VerMeer visited Idaho nearly 40 years ago he saw rolling hills, rich soil and water, just what he needed for an orchard. NORMAN "We came up here in 1971. My wife had an uncle that just loved Idaho and he came up here every year and he spotted this place right here." This Canyon County place near Wilder turned into a 125 acre fruit orchard and with the help of two sons, Norman VerMeer diversified in 1980 when he bought a neighboring dairy with the plan of turning it into an orchard. NORMAN "My father-in-law who is a good dairyman talked me into keeping this little 60 cow dairy operation." VerMeer got out of the apple business after the ALAR scare of the mid-80's followed by Chinese apple imports but son Mike had expanded the dairy from 60 to 120 milking cows, then up to 800. MIKE "Now we are up to a thousand cows milking. Three years ago we built pens and brought home our heifer program. So there's 900 heifers out here too now. All told there's about 21 hundred head of everything." There are more VerMeers involved in the family farm. You'll meet some of them tomorrow. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott