Producer
Jackie Hoch-Hoch Orchard
Contact: Harry and Jackie Hoch
City: La Crescent, MN, 55947
Website: https://www.hochorchard.com/
About Us
At Hoch Orchard, we strive to produce high quality fruit with minimal pesticide use. Our little farm is a vertically integrated food production system. We only sell fruit that we grow. This way you know where the food came from, who actually produced it, and how it was produced. We do not buy fruit from other farmers and put our label on it. If it says Hoch Orchard and Gardens on the bag, the fruit inside was grown by us.
Not only do we grow all the fruit we sell, we also harvest, store, clean, pack, and distribute the fruit we grow. Our processed products are also made on the farm. In 2007 we completed the construction of a cider mill and commercial kitchen. Our jellies, juices, and sauces are made here with fruit grown right here.
Organic and low input IPM apples
Not only do we grow all the fruit we sell, we also harvest, store, clean, pack, and distribute the fruit we grow. Our processed products are also made on the farm. In 2007 we completed the construction of a cider mill and commercial kitchen. Our jellies, juices, and sauces are made here with fruit grown right here.
Organic and low input IPM apples
Practices
We ripen our apples naturally without plant growth regulators or ripening agents. Our apples are cleaned and packed on our family farm. We do not apply wax, food grade shellac, or any post-harvest pesticides to the apples. Our fruit is about as clean and natural as is possible in our Midwestern climate. Our farm is not free from spray. We produce IPM and Organic fruits using products approved by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).
We practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by monitoring pests and diseases. This allows us to produce high quality fruit while using a minimal amount of fungicides and insecticides. We want to produce the best apples possible while being environmentally friendly and economically feasible.
Our organic products are certified by MCIA organic services- www.mciaorganic.org. Becoming certified is long process that involves very strict record keeping. Orchards have to be thirty-six months without a prohibited substance before they can be certified organic. If you are interested in our transition process, click on the ‘Organic Farm Plan’ button in the drop-down menu. You can read the Farm Transition Plan that we submitted to MOSA in 2007. We strive to produce high quality fruit with minimal impact on our environment. We combine some the oldest, safest organic practices with state-of-the-art Integrated Pest Management systems to bring you the best local organic products that we can grow.
Our entire farm is certified organic and all the products we produce on our farm are certified organic except the Honey. We cannot guarantee that the bees won’t fly to nonorganic land so we cannot certify the honey. Why would they? We can’t think of reason they would leave our lush diversified fruit plantings to go to the neighboring fields of corn and beans.
We practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by monitoring pests and diseases. This allows us to produce high quality fruit while using a minimal amount of fungicides and insecticides. We want to produce the best apples possible while being environmentally friendly and economically feasible.
Our organic products are certified by MCIA organic services- www.mciaorganic.org. Becoming certified is long process that involves very strict record keeping. Orchards have to be thirty-six months without a prohibited substance before they can be certified organic. If you are interested in our transition process, click on the ‘Organic Farm Plan’ button in the drop-down menu. You can read the Farm Transition Plan that we submitted to MOSA in 2007. We strive to produce high quality fruit with minimal impact on our environment. We combine some the oldest, safest organic practices with state-of-the-art Integrated Pest Management systems to bring you the best local organic products that we can grow.
Our entire farm is certified organic and all the products we produce on our farm are certified organic except the Honey. We cannot guarantee that the bees won’t fly to nonorganic land so we cannot certify the honey. Why would they? We can’t think of reason they would leave our lush diversified fruit plantings to go to the neighboring fields of corn and beans.