A photograph taken about 1955 of the October rush of tomatoes at the Hanover Canning Company plant. A story of this canning company’s presence in the Lykens Valley was told in the Gratz Sesquicentennial Book of 1955.
The most recent industry to come into our area is the Hanover Canning Company which has a pre-hulling plant and receiving station on the Schminky farm south of the [Gratz] Fair Grounds. The headquarters and main plant of the company are at Hanover [Pennsylvania[. Charles I. Keiter is the local manager.
For the past eleven years the company has made contracts with the farmers of this and neighboring valleys to produce peas, snap beans, tomatoes and baby lima beans for them. From early spring until the first killing frost in fall the company keeps the farmers busy producing for them.
Seed pees are provided for the farmers by the company. These the farmers drill into the ground as soon as weather and soil conditions permit. When the crop matures the company cuts the crop company cuts the crop and hulls the peas at the local plant. The peas are rushed to Hanover in refrigerated trucks for processing. After the pea crop is harvested a crop of baby limas is usually produced in the same field.
Some farmers also produce snap beans.
But the favorite crop seems to be tomatoes. The Hanover Company has its own special brand of tomatoes. They grow the plants in Georgia and transport them for the spring planting season. They are set out with the company’s transplanting machines, When the crop matures the tomatoes are delivered to the local receiving station and rushed to Hanover in large trucks.
Considerable local labor is employed, but each year the company finds it necessary to import Porto Ricans to do the tomato and snap bean picking.
Last year the Gratz area produced 580 tons of peas and 4506 tons of tomatoes.
After the peas are hulled farmers are glad for the hulls and other remains. This provides excellent silage for livestock and green manure.
The Hanover Company was incorporated in 1924 and has mad remarkable progress. They have twelve company-operated farms and have contract growers from Maryland to the New York state line.
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Photo and information from the Gratz Sesquicentennial Book, 1955.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.