Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Petran.
Hi Andy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My career goal was to be a teaching professor for most of my adult life! I went to grad school and got my PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2016, researching season-extension methods for strawberries in the Upper Midwest. Then, during my post-doctoral appointment, I started getting second thoughts about professorship; I learned more about the realities of functioning within these massive institutions, lack of autonomy, managing egos, etc. The turning point was when I was offered a tenure-track professorship in late 2017 and instead of feeling joy, it was more of a foreboding anxiety when reading the offer letter…
During this time, I simultaneously was getting frustrated that my Ph.D. work wasn’t seeming to get much traction or being adopted in the real world. I helped shape it, I believed in it, so I decided if no one else was going to prove it could work then I’d have to do it myself. So, I left academia behind and founded Twin Cities Berry Company in early 2018!
Our farm is very much both a production and research operation. All management practices are based on the results of previous on-farm trials and research. We are vertically integrated from a technical sense- all production practices are based on research conducted in-house.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely has NOT been a smooth road! Land access and climate change are the biggest hurdles for young and emerging farmers today; without significant startup capital or land in your inheritance pipeline, it’s hard to grow or even begin. We are currently leasing land that barely qualifies as agriculturally viable- it’s listed as ‘pasture land’ and is a haphazard mixture of too wet, too sandy and too infertile all in the same field. But, when you start out with very little you have to take what you can get. In 2018, a tornado blew over our most expensive piece of infrastructure that was just purchased. 2019 was the wettest year in MN history; this year had record drought and heat. Every bit of profit we make goes back into research for practices that are more climate resilient, not only for us but for the region’s food security as well.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I knew early on that the only way to ‘make it’ as a farm with little access to land and capital was to specialize- become the absolute best at a specific crop and figure out how to make it available as long as possible. Fortunately, I had a head start with my Ph.D. research, so I decided instead of being another small veggie farm with a CSA I would be known as the strawberry guy. The top strawberry guy. The guy with strawberries that cost more than you expected, but you keep coming back because they taste better than any strawberry you’ve ever had before.
Since 2018 we’ve taken the typical 4-week strawberry season and turned it into 23. We were still picking strawberries into Mid-November, using season extension and pest management practices continuously refined over years. I call my late-season fruit “Ice berries” because the strawberries develop an almost apple-like crispness! Truly like nothing you’ve tasted before.
We are currently shifting away from open-field production towards tunnel/greenhouse production, researching labor optimization and hydroponic methods that allow us to grow massive amounts of fruit on small parcels of land without investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into infrastructure to make it possible. I’m proud that we’ve come this far from basically nothing; no capital, no land, just grit and the desire to innovate. But we still have a long way to go.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
First and foremost my wife Emily- she is the best partner I could ever hope for. She volunteers way more of her free time to come help out on the farm than she should, but honestly, TCBC probably wouldn’t have survived the first two years without her support. My education, support and experience at the University of Minnesota gave me the tools I needed to explore my curiosity on a level that could turn agricultural questions into actionable new practices. And recently, I’ve met a wonderful new network of mentors and friends through the MN Cup that helped me envision the future of TCBC in a way that I hadn’t considered before.
Contact Info:
- Email: a.petran@tcberries.com
- Website: tcberries.com
- Instagram: @twincitiesberry
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twincitiesberrycompany
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbNnvv8fo2q3d17ltmT442Q
Image Credits
Sam Scaman
Meghan Albers
Andy Petran
