DeGroot's Vegetable Farms

Wrapping up the first week of our pepper and potato harvest in Wichert. For anyone not familiar with growing fruits and vegetables, it really is like conducting an orchestra. All the effort put into producing a crop, marshalling the crew to harvest it, closing the sales, and shipping the product build up to a crescendo. Every season is a marathon and it takes countless people to make it a successful one!

Beautiful sunset watering some beautiful potatoes!!! Adam DeGroot Aaron DeGroot Cassie Misch Jason Cook Jared Cook Clint Frese Charles Parr Bio Ag Management NEW AGE Laboratories Komet Irrigation Lindsay Corporation

We were excited to speak with the Illinois Farm Bureau Partners magazine about our family farm's history, sustainability practices, and future plans. DeGroot's Vegetable Farms is proud to grow fresh produce in Illinois, serving customers locally in the Chicagoland area and across the country. You can read the article here or below: https://lnkd.in/gerrq5wZ

We are excited to announce that the USDA has appointed Adam DeGroot to serve as Illinois' sole member on the National Potato Promotion Board (Potatoes USA), an industry-funded research and marketing organization representing potato growers nationwide. DeGroot's Vegetable Farms will continue highlighting the nutritional and economic benefits of America's favorite vegetable - the potato. We're excited to bring another crop to consumers in the Midwest and across the country this season! Read more from the USDA here: https://lnkd.in/eR6bmpWH

DeGroot's Vegetable Farms is proud to join the Potato Sustainability Alliance's newest member category - grower associate. Whether it's through promoting soil health, water efficiency, or alternative fertilizer use, or through the increased application of technology, sustainability is at the heart of our fourth-generation family farm. You can learn more about our sustainability efforts in the potato value chain here: https://lnkd.in/gz6Z75A8

We are deeply saddened by the passing of our father, Paul DeGroot. He was truly one of a kind. Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 28, and 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, December 29, at the First Reformed Church of Wichert, 7696 E 4500S Road, St. Anne. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, December 29, also at First Reformed Church of Wichert. Interment will follow in Oakwood Cemetery, St. Anne (Wichert). --- Paul Eugene DeGroot, 65, of St. Anne, Illinois, passed away peacefully at his home on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. He was born August 23, 1958, in Kankakee, Illinois, to Donna and Virgil DeGroot. Paul was the beloved husband to his wife Cynthia Diana DeGroot (nee Lentz) for 41 years; hardworking, dedicated father to his three sons and daughters-in-law Andrew (Jessica), Adam (Jenny) & Aaron (Avery); proud “Papa” to Lexie, Levi, Logan, Marshall, Eloise, and Juliet DeGroot; Dear brother to sister Patricia DeGroot and Twin sister Paula DeGroot, sisters-in-law Kathy DeGroot and Debbie Kramer and fond uncle of his nieces and nephews. He was proceeded in death by parents Virgil & Donna DeGroot, brother James DeGroot & mother- & father-in-law Noel & Frances Lentz. For over 50 years, Paul was a vegetable and grain farmer, working alongside his brother and business partner Jim and three sons Andrew, Adam, and Aaron at their family farm in the unincorporated Wichert area north of St. Anne. Paul had an unmatched work ethic and lifelong dedication to growing the family farm and passing it along to the next generation. The self-proclaimed “Mayor of Wichert,” Paul loved his community and family heritage. He was an avid sportsman and outdoorsman, loving to hunt, fish, and shoot sporting clays across North America with his sons and friends. Paul had a fun and colorful personality and went by many nicknames - “Papa,” “Paulie,” “Pablo.” He will be forever in our hearts. Memorials may be made to the First Reformed Church of Wichert, where Paul was a lifelong member. https://lnkd.in/g7jAySwq