Wish Farms

History

In 1900, Harris Wishnatzki immigrated from Russia to New York City and began selling fruits and vegetables from a pushcart where he met fellow pushcart peddler, Daniel Nathel.

Over the next 22 years, Wishnatzki and Nathel both grew their businesses to large pushcart fleets, selling produce on the streets in New York City. In 1922, they decided to join forces – and from this, the business, Wishnatzki & Nathel was born.

During the late 1920s Wishnatzki was making regular trips to Florida to purchase produce. Seven years later in 1929, Harris Wishnatzki moved to Florida to establish the produce shipping operation in Plant City. Nathel remained in New York City.

In Florida, Wishnatzki envisioned bringing fresh strawberries to fruit-deprived consumers in the northern states during the winter months. Challenges with transporting perishable goods were eventually overcome and the company's New York City hub began distributing fresh fruit. Thanks to Wishnatzki, Plant City growers gained access to large American markets.

In 1955, the second generation Wishnatzkis, Joe and Lester, joined the business. When Harris Wishnatzki died in 1955, he passed company leadership to two of his sons.

In 1974, third generation Gary Wishnatzki, Harris’ grandson, began working for the company. In 1987, Gary developed the growing operation to help supplement produce supplies to the shipping business. The company began purchasing its own farms that same year. By 1990, Gary Wishnatzki became president of the company.

In 2001, the Wishnatzki and Nathel families mutually agreed to split the companies with the Wishnatzkis overseeing the Florida division. The company was named Wishnatzki Farms and focused on growing and shipping produce.

In 2007, Wishnatzki Farms entered into the strawberry processing business and opened a processing facility to supplement outsourced production capacity. A year later, VirtualOne, an extension of Wish Farms, introduced FreshQC™, a patented solution for traceability. Wish Farms uses the FreshQC™ How’s My Picking?™ program to ensure quality by tying consumer feedback to the harvest time, field location, and picker.

Today, Wish Farms owns and operates over 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) of farmland, primarily in Manatee County, Florida, and Hillsborough County, Florida. Over 6 million packages of fresh fruit and vegetables were delivered annually in 2010. Approximately half of Wish Farms' output is in strawberries, which are produced with both organic and traditional (i.e., using fertilizers and pesticides) approaches.

In 2010, the consumer brand, Wish Farms was launched featuring “Misty the Garden Pixie.”

By 2011, Wish Farms became a year-round supplier of blueberries (with seven different growing regions), strawberries (with an operation in California) and vegetables (with farms in Florida). The company made the official name change to Wish Farms in the same year.

Products

Wish Farms is the largest strawberry grower and shipper in Florida and year-round with farms in California, offering both organic and conventional berries. They ship over four million flats of strawberries a year.

Wish Farms also markets organic and conventional blueberries year-round from seven different growing regions and ship six million pounds of blueberries annually. In addition, the Wish Farms’ vegetable program includes marketing pickles for the largest pickle grower in the world, as well as growing bell pepper and grape tomatoes at company-owned farms in Duette and Pine Island, Florida. Over one million packages of vegetables are shipped annually.

During the 2009-10 growing season Wish Farms produced 30 million pounds (13.6 million kg) of fresh and processed strawberries under its Wish Farms brand. Wish Farms created a processing line that allows the company to create frozen strawberry product and market it to an outside customer base.

Wish Farms produces strawberries, blueberries, bell peppers, squash and hard squash such as butternut squash, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, cantaloupes and watermelons. The company distributes to chain stores, wholesalers, restaurant suppliers and institutional buyers throughout the United States and Canada.

Community involvement

Gary Wishnatzki and Wish Farms have been active in the Plant City and Tampa, Florida, area community. Gary supports the needs of the state's migrant workers. In 2006, he started the Strawberry Pro-Am tennis tournament with benefits funding college educations for children of migrant workers. The 5th annual tournament was held March 13, 2010, and raised close to $90,000 for the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) capital campaign, which is aimed at building classrooms to help serve children of migrant workers. RCMA serves nearly 8,000 children of migrant farm workers and rural, low income families in more than 75 centers throughout Florida. The 8th annual Strawberry Pro-Am tennis tournament was held February 9, 2013 and was expected to net close to $85,000 for RCMA.

Wish Farms is a sponsor of the Florida Strawberry Festival, held each year in Plant City, Florida. Created by the Plant City Lions Club in the 1930s, the 11-day event draws crowds from around the country. In 2012, the company sponsored a farm worker appreciation day at the event.