Farmer predicts bountiful kiwi crop

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) _ Walking around his three-acre kiwifruit plot off Oswego Highway, Al Gummerson inspects the male and female viney plants and makes a hopeful declaration based on 23 years of experience.

"This year looks like it's going to be a bumper crop," he said.

Gummerson, 78, is a New Jersey native who joined the Army at 17 and served in the Air Force for 27 years, retiring as a chief master sergeant. After a 12-year stint at BD as a supervisor, he retired and decided he wanted to do something different.

"I had all this land here and always wanted to farm something when I retired, and I wanted to grow something different," he said. "The New Zealanders were over here promoting kiwi, and I went to a couple seminars and I said, 'That's just about as different as you can get,' and that's how I got into it."

Sumter County's Clemson Extension Agent Greg Harvey said the state's agriculture department hosted a contingent of kiwifruit commonly called kiwi experts from New Zealand in the mid-'80s to extol the virtues of kiwi farming as an alternative to peaches.

A year-round and labor-intensive endeavor, kiwi farming requires heavy fertilization and irrigation.

"Summertime when it's hot, like around 100 degrees, each one of these plants takes 30 gallons of water a day to support the transpiration — the moisture going out through the leaf," he said.

The nitrogen fertilizer, potassium and phosphorous costs have just about doubled, he said. Gummerson plans to get his grandson, Justin Hyatt, more involved with the operation to spread some of the burden of farming and selling the fruit of Sumter County's only kiwi orchard.

"I call it a vineyard, but New Zealanders call it an orchard," he said.

The state was thinking about getting a company to handle all the excess fruit, Gummerson said, as there were big plans for the hoped-for kiwi harvest. New Zealanders make candy, toothpaste and wine out of kiwi, Gummerson said.

"Anything you can think of, they make with kiwi," he said.

Gummerson started kiwi farming in 1985, and after working with Clemson University professors and extension agents for the first two years — and waiting the two to three years it takes to see fruit — he nearly saw his entire efforts wiped out by a freeze the first year.

While the first few years were "dicey," Gummerson soon saw progress in the development of a strong root system. But Hurricane Hugo in September 1989 proved to be a major setback when he had to harvest early in a vain effort to save the crop, which had yet to ripen properly and had to be tossed.

Last year's harvest was ruined by the chilly Easter weekend, and resulted in about 400 pounds of fruit, whereas his most productive March to November growing season can result in 30 tons, or 6,000 pounds.

Gummerson jokes about being "too stubborn" to quit, and how he initially farmed five acres. But he clearly enjoys being out in the plot, staying busy with tasks such as replacing the T-shaped wooden trellises needed to support the top-heavy trees.

"I've enjoyed it. It's kept me out of the bars — mostly," he said, laughing. "After I joined church I don't go to the bars to speak of."

Whether tending to the upkeep of the trellises, or inspecting fresh blossoms, or mowing the paths between the rows of plants, being a kiwi farmer means constant physical labor.

"I don't have to join the 'Y' and I don't have trouble sleeping," he said, smiling.