Kellogg family a finalist for ‘Grow Your Future’ Award

Van Manen Sweet Corn and Fresh produce is one of 10 finalists in the Iowa Farm Bureau’s “Grow Your Future” Award.

Voting is done online at iowafarmbureau.wishpondpages.com/iowa-farm-bureau-s-grow-your-future-award-top-10/ and will remain open until Thursday, Dec. 17 when the 10 finalists will be narrowed to six. The Jasper County business needs your votes to stay in the running.

In the video uploaded with their entry, siblings Jacob Van Manen and Emily (Van Manen) Larson tell potential voters what they plan to do if they win the award. The funds will go toward purchasing a high tunnel building so they hopefully can harvest tomatoes earlier in the season.

“This high tunnel will allow us to start picking tomatoes hopefully at the same time as we start selling sweet corn,” Van Manen said.

Similar to a greenhouse, the high tunnel building traps and uses natural heat to grow its crops in a more controlled environment with less of negative impact from the elements. It allows the farmer to have more control over the factors that go into a successful crop.

Larson said the business started as a way for her and her brother to pay for their college education but has become so much more in the process. It is their hope to continue to grow the business and bring fresh produce to the community for generations to come.

“Our family is currently growing so we’d also like to grow our business in order to reflect that,” Larson said. “Our big goal is to diversify our sweet corn business into a vegetable production business. So then we can provide many other quality fruits and vegetables for our consumers.”

The next generation of Van Manen is already excited to be involved in the business.

“My 21/2 year old daughter wakes up and begs to go pick sweet corn so it’s already exciting to see the next generation and how we can instill everything that a family farm is to her at an early age,” Van Manen said.

The produce is sold at a number of roadside stands in Jasper County and in grocery stores throughout Central Iowa. The Van Manens sell sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and a variety of melons.

Contact Pam Pratt at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or pampratt@newtondailynews.com