Another tractor moves supplies at the Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms facility in Luckey.
Lou Kozma Jr., president of Hirzel Farms, shows off the Hirzel Organic Compost, one of the many products from Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms.
Hirzel Farms President Lou Kozma Jr. has the original field plot that founder Carl Hirzel scientifically laid out in 1923. The company is celebrating 100 years in business.
Hirzel Farms President Lou Kozma Jr. holds a historical collage of the 100 years of Hirzel labels that was created for the celebration for the company anniversary.
Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms Agricultural Manager Jeff Unverferth checks on tomato plants for the Dei Fratelli canned tomato products.
Andy Stickel, Stickel Farms, who moves watering hoses in one of their two greenhouses, is celebrating the 60th anniversary for their farm, which has worked continuously with the now-century-old Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms.
LUCKEY — With a firm footing in fermentation, 100 years ago master brewer Carl Hirzel switched gears and started making sauerkraut.
That understanding of science and attention to detail has kept Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms, the family-owned farming and food production company known for producing the Dei Fratelli brand, going strong.
“I see growth. Definitely. I also see doing things that are more stable, but that’s what we have always done. We’re talking about cover crops now, but Carl did that back then,” said Lou Kozma, Jr., president of Hirzel Farms in Luckey,
The farm is one part of the Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms operation that makes the Dei Fratelli brand.
“Now with H2Ohio, which we participate in, we’re doing our best to lower our carbon footprint,” Kozma said. “What we do as a farm is help other growers get as much for their crop as possible.”
The company was the second one in Ohio to be certified organic, which happened in 1981.
Kozma proudly showed off the original sketches his great grandfather Carl R. Hirzel drew up in 1925.
“He had to actually learn. He taught himself how to farm,” Kozma said, pointing out statistics on his grandfather’s notes and diagrams from the original 70 acres farm layout in Northwood. “After Prohibition he bought that farm. He had early cabbage, late cabbage, early potato, late potatoes, strawberries and tomatoes. Because of Prohibition he didn’t have a job, but he had relatives over here. … The sauerkraut was actually shredded and processed in the basement of the house up there.
Hirzel came from Switzerland and the company label still has the original Swiss star cross.
“He had cabbage because he was fermenting. That’s why he started with sauerkraut, because he knew fermentation,” Kozma said. “Basically, he went off what he already knew and expanded on it.
“That’s really what we do. We innovate and facilitate. Because we’re constantly looking at evaluating varieties, plant spacing, especially efficiency, because the cost of production keeps going up, where else can we become more efficient at it?
”We’re tasked with making it more efficient for the grower, because we have to make it profitable enough for the grower so they remain a grower. There are other simpler options,” Kozma said.
Today, the most well known brand of products from Hirzel is the Dei Fratelli line, but there are several divisions of the company, which spans from Northwest Ohio to Southern Michigan.
In demonstrating the diversity of the Hirzel operations, as part of a 100th anniversary tour of the Luckey facility, Kozma pointed out an order of popcorn being readied for shipping to Hong Kong. Their wide range of products and services range from organic compost, to their Silver Fleece Sauerkraut, but they also clean, process and ship food products worldwide.
Jeff Unverferth, Hirzel agricultural manager, works with the growers from the beginning of the year, starting before anything is planted. His relationship with the growers, as field manager, is part of the value they get through working with Hirzel.
“Basically, tradition, pride and it’s basically just something that’s born into you, into the grower and the canning family farm relationship has grown leaps and bounds. Made very, very good relationships and provided a lot of diversity and income into the agricultural community,” Unverferth said.
That pride and long relationship value is echoed by the grower.
“We really strive. We know as a grower, when it goes into a Dei Fratelli can, it’s of high quality. So our goal, whether it’s grown as transplants, or growing in the fields, we want the highest quality. That’s our goal. To strive to do that from a growers standpoint, it’s fun, but it keeps you wanting to get better all the time,” Andy Stickel, Stickel Farms, said.
Stickel appreciates the ability to diversify the crops grown on their land, especially with tomatoes, because while they are more labor intensive they are also a higher value. He considers himself fortunate to have the generations-long relationship between their two companies.
There are nine greenhouse operations working with Hirzel to supply plants for the farmers.
The two greenhouses at Stickel Farms each produce 1,600 trays of tomatoes, with 338 plants in each tray, for a total of 551,616 plants. The tracking on numbers on those trays follow through the entire process, from planting to creation of the final canned product, a process developed at Hirzel about 20 years ago.
Part of that process includes electric eye technology that sorts the plants in the field, adding to the profitability for both the farmer and canner, as the many variables, from color to quality, determine how the fruit is used, or possibly discarded.
Some of the added value of working with Hirzel is in the unique taste of the Dei Fratelli product.
There are 16 varieties of tomatoes used, reflecting the continuous evaluation of the taste and quality produced by each plant. Some of that varies from year to year, and on the terroir. As an example, because of the difference in varieties and the mineral content of the local land, a can of crushed tomatoes from Dei Fratelli will taste different from a can of crushed tomatoes from California.
Unverferth said that they work with a 120-variety tomato test plot, hoping to get two varieties that they like. The entire process will take five years to get to the table.
“As a higher value crop it allows both my brother and I to stay on the farm full time,” Stickel said. “It’s been a really, really good opportunity over the years. We’ve certainly enjoyed our relationship with Hirzel Canning and the Hirzel family. They are second to none, a first class operation all the way around. Our longevity in the business is because of them.”
