A Growing History
The farm expanded in the early 1990s from its original plot of about 30 acres in
WP Rawl also has 1,200 acres of land in Florida, which includes a processing facility and warehouse for distribution, and cultivates farmland as a contract grower for Publix producing bagged greens under the name Palmetto Gardens. In addition, the company tends to 300 acres in Michigan, primarily growing cilantro there, as well as 350 acres in Pennsylvania, where it’s focused on cultivating cilantro, parsley, beets, and kale.
ON JANUARY 25, 1925, Walter and Ernestine Rawl left the church as newlyweds and returned to their plot of land in Gilbert, South Carolina, to plant cabbages.
Gilbert to what is now its main hub in the small town of Pelion, a 20-minute drive away. Wingard describes Pelion — which is about a 40-minute drive southwest of the state capital, Columbia — as having “two stop lights, and one of them might not even be in the town limits.” At its Pelion headquarters, WP Rawl farms on 3,500 acres of land, often planted in the spring and fall with collard greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, cilantro, leeks, and green onion, to name just a few varieties grown there. Wingard estimates that the company yields, per acre, about 800 boxes of collard greens and kale; 1,000 boxes of cilantro and parsley; 4,000 boxes of green onions; and 1,000 boxes of leeks.
That resourcefulness and eagerness to pivot has enabled WP Rawl to flourish as a family-owned operation for close to a century. The farm started out growing tomatoes, okra, corn, asparagus, and peaches, and now focuses primarily on bagged leafy greens under the name Nature’s Greens that can be purchased nationwide in stores like Walmart, Food Lion, Lowes Food, Lidl, BJ’s, and Wegmans. The company also sells herbs and other produce like beets, leeks, and sweet corn. It’s grown, in part, by using a number of regenerative farming practices that seek to nurture the land the family business is staked on. And decades after Ernestine died in 2000, and Walter before her in 1978, the Rawl family’s farming legacy is as strong as ever. At the time of writing, 11 family members work at the company, with some fourth-gen- eration relatives lending a hand in the sum- mers, just like Wingard did way back when.
“We fall short a lot, but we exceed a lot too,” Wingard says, noting that a given season’s weather, pests, disease, and labor availability all contribute to harvest outcomes. He adds that he doesn’t have plans to scale up WP Rawl’s farming operation at this time. Instead, he wants the
That was the beginning of WP Rawl, a farming enterprise that now spans four states and three generations, and has approximately 750 employees on staff — not counting the family members who continue to work there. “It’s always been a family-owned and -operated business,” says Charles Wingard, vice president of field operations and the Rawls’ grandson. Wingard, 59, tells The Rooted Journal that he has been working at WP Rawl ever since he was a kid spending summers on the farm. Ernestine herself worked in the fields at the farming company until she was 78, Wingard says, adding that even after a double knee replacement she would still cook lunch every day for her family members in the business. “If you were in town, you were expected to be there,” Wingard says of Ernestine’s lunches. “If we had somebody with us, we would call and let her know and she would just put a little more water in the soup.”
company to continue getting better at what they do by studying what has gone right and wrong,
and the difference between the two in order to improve for the next year. Speaking to The Rooted Journal in early June from WP Rawl’s Pelion headquarters alongside Christine Jackson, a senior marketing manager who has been at the company for 22 years, Wingard says his goal is to leave whatever he finds on the farm today “a little bit better tomorrow, whether it’s for my kids or Christine’s kids or the gentleman sitting right out there, his kids.”
WP Rawl continues to operate as a “family farm” with 11 family members still working in the business.
1939–1945 German prisoners work at the farm during WWII
2000 First fresh cut room opens
2005 The Versatile Veggies ® brand is registered
1925 Walter and Ernestine Rawl found Walter P. Rawl Farms
1960 Saluda River Bridge
1980 Family begins
1973 “Our
is dedicated to Walter P. Rawl
hosting an annual collards “drop-in”
Business is Growing” ® is registered
1924
1934
1944
1954
1964
1974
1984
1994
2004
1996 Prewashed, ready-to-cook greens and vegetable sales begin
2008 WP Rawl & Sons begins
100 Years of WP RAWL
1970 The farm begins phasing out the peach business and concentrates on greens
1930 The farm provides income for local residents during the Great Depression
1959 Walter is named president of the SC Peach Council
participation in the American Food Certification Program
Nature’s Greens ® is registered
54
55
ISSUE 01
A CENTURY OF HARVESTS
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online