Relentless snowfall throughout a brutal winter destroyed three greenhouses at a local family farm, dealing a crushing blow to an operation that serves schools and seniors throughout the region.
Matt and Nicole Boersma, co-owners of Boersma Family Farm, lost more than 300 feet of greenhouse space when heavy snow loads collapsed the structures over time, with the final collapses occurring around February just as they prepared for the new growing season. The damage eliminated close to half of the farm’s growing capacity.
One greenhouse was destroyed during a February blizzard that dumped more than 50 inches of snow while Matt Boersma was working to clear snow from between the hoop houses. The other two structures sustained damage over time from the constant snowfall before collapsing.
“With the nonstop snowfall every day and negative 30-degree wind temps for like a week and a half in the start of that, we just kept falling behind a day or two at a time and it just kind of added up,” Matt Boersma said.
The 10-year-old farm has become an integral part of the local food system, appearing at farmers markets in Houghton, Hancock and Calumet throughout the summer. The operation also partners with local school districts through the Farm-to-School program and supplies produce to Copper Shores Meals on Wheels.
The loss highlights the challenges facing Upper Peninsula farmers, who already contend with shortened growing seasons of roughly three months without greenhouse protection.
“Up here, which is about five months roughly if you have the greenhouses up, otherwise it’s like three months maybe a little bit more depending on the spring and fall,” Matt Boersma said. “It’s a super important integral part of our whole system.”
The farm began working with the Farm-to-School program around 2020 and has supplied local schools for six years. Nicole Boersma emphasized the importance of season extension for meeting program demands.
“We started doing that around COVID, I want to say. So this will be our sixth year working with the schools,” Nicole Boersma said. “And it’s something that’s really, really important to us, which is why season extension is so important to getting stuff into school lunch programs.”
The farm also provides peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce and other vegetables to senior meal programs.
“You can also find our stuff in the senior meals meal plans. We’ve been working with those guys for probably around the same time, about six years roughly,” Matt Boersma said. “More and more every year, they demand a lot from us.”
Nicole Boersma said other Upper Peninsula farms have struggled with this winter’s harsh conditions, making community support crucial. Sharing a farm in Marquette County experienced similar challenges with snow that buried a henhouse, and damaged greenhouse.
“They do one big project a year, one big project a year, and to have so much loss. I mean, it’s devastating, you know?” Nicole Boersma said. “So it is really great to have community support. I think it’s really special where we live because we get to know everybody on such a personal level.”
From April through June, the Keweenaw Co-op’s round-up program will split funds between the Western UP Food Bank and Boersma Family Farm. The farm hopes to repair two of the three damaged greenhouses in time to meet some typical demand, though time constraints before the season ends present a major challenge.
A GoFundMe campaign has been established for those interested in supporting the farm’s repairs directly. The Boersmas encourage residents to support local farmers by purchasing from markets throughout the summer or from local retailers carrying farm products.
