The following article appeared in the September 1954 issue of Farm Journal featuring berry grower Arthur Westcott. Although the article, which was transcribed for this website in 2000, describes the characteristic ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, it is not known whether he is a Stukely Westcott descendant. Any update would be appreciated. David Wescott Smith, October 2020.
They Freeze Surpluses
Fruit surpluses nearly always mean give-away prices for the grower, or else spoilage losses. This is the story of two berry growers, Arthur Wescott, of Cumberland County, Maine, and H. F. Winter, Wayne County, Ohio, who froze their way out of such troubles.
“We freeze our surplus strawberries and raspberries, and they net us more than fresh ones sold at the roadside stand. They spread income over the years, too,” says Arthur Wescott, Cumberland County, Maine. (Photo and caption from Farm Journal, September 1954)
It began several years ago for Wescott. He had spent a hot, humid day in Portland only to lose seven crates of strawberries on a flooded market. Back home he decided that he’d had enough of that kind of marketing. He bought a 30 cubic foot freezer and soon discovered that frozen berries were bringing in more than his fresh crop.
Since then Wescott has added a 12 cubic foot freezer, and plans to build a 12′ X 14′ freezing room in his basement. “Buying that freezer has spread our income over the year,” explains Wescott. “Folks come in all seasons of the year for frozen berries.”
When fresh berries sold at 35 cents a quart at his roadside stand, Wescott got 55 cents a pound for frozen berries. Two quarts, selling for 70 cents fresh, made three pounds frozen, selling for $1.65. That’s 95 cents for his work, sugar and cartons.
Winter, who has 7-1/2 acres of black raspberries, in Ohio, packs his surplus berries in 25-pound cans, and stores them in a freezer locker plant. Last year he froze 6,500 pounds, about half his crop. Freezer storage costs 1/2 cent a pound a month. He gets 30 cents a pound for the frozen berries, selling mainly to wholesalers who supply bakeries.
Source: Farm Journal, September 1954, page 144