Ed and Paige Ritchie are a bit of a novelty. They are one of three large-scale spinach producers/packers left in Texas and the third and fourth generation of a 100-year production legacy in the Winter Garden area. The father/daughter duo credit their longevity to adaptability and research.

“From the days of using crushed ice to top ice our product in the field, to going to vacuum cool [which drops the temperature to 35 degrees in 15 to 30 minutes]; from railroad cars to semi’s that get the spinach there in three to four days instead of two weeks,” Ed said these advances have made a big difference.  

Three bed mechanical harvester replaced hand labor. (Leslie Dominguez, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension)

The replacement of hand labor with a three-bed mechanical harvester has been revolutionary as well. While this technology resolved many labor issues, it also helped them shift with the market demand from large-leaf spinach, which is canned or frozen, to fresh baby spinach.

“We had to adapt to stay in business,” Ed said. And they have.

The mechanical harvester has also enabled them to increase plant populations from 30,000 baby leaf spinach seeds per acre to 3.5 million seeds per acre, “which would have been impossible with hand labor,” Ed added.

Tiro Tres Farms

The Ritchies call their farm Tiro Tres Farms. The name was drafted by Ed’s father, who told Ed, “You’re the third generation. You’re the third shot.” Since then, Paige has returned, helping cultivate cuarta generación, a fourth generation, on the Ritchie family farm.

Related:Tiro Tres Farms celebrates leafy green harvest

Ed Ritchie and his daughter Paige Ritchie walk one of their Savoy spinach fields. For the first time this year, they are growing turnip tops, kale and collards. (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

Ed primarily handles the farming, while Paige is the farm’s Food Safety Quality Assurance manager. Ed said Paige touches everything that requires documentation. Today, that’s almost every aspect of Tiro Tres Farms.

The Ritchies grow turnip tops, collards, kale and watermelon, along with three types of spinach:

A slow start to #plant23

The Ritchies’ farm is located 45 miles from the U.S./Mexico border in Zavala County. The spinach is planted in the fall and harvested throughout the winter.

Last fall’s sporadic rainfall lent to a slow start for the 2024-harvested crop. “When we did get rain, it was followed with strong winds, 30 to 40 mph, and then so much for the rain. It’s gone. It’s dry,” Ed said.

Though the Ritchies condition their turn rows and adjacent fields to prevent them from blowing, Ed said, “When it blows 40 mph to 50 mph for over 12 hours, there’s really not much you can do.”

Packing the 2024 spinach crop. (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

Wet weather and humidity also contribute to disease pressure. “It can bring on some leaf spot disease and rhizoctonia,” Paige said. “We had a couple of issues in the beginning trying to combat those.”

Related:Mounting regulations create challenges for spinach producers

When Farm Press visited near the end of February, the Ritchies had intended to harvest throughout the day, but due to unseasonably warm weather, they stopped before noon. Temperatures reached 88 degrees. Typically, they average about 72 degrees.

“It warmed up quickly,” Paige said. “We had a small window to harvest.”

Once harvested, sorted and packed at Tiro Tres Farms, the spinach is transported in refrigerated trucks to processors on the East Coast and Canada. “We don't wash or bag anything here. It's all raw bulk products. So, that's where it would go to your Dole-type facilities or Taylor Farms,” Paige said.

Overall, Paige reported good yields and minimal disease issues with the 2024 crop.

Field trials: a necessity

Breeding for disease resistance is a high priority, as are their field trials that help identify resistant hybrids. Ed describes the trial data as a production necessity.  

Initially, Crystal City’s Del Monte Processing Plant conducted field trials, but since its 2019 closure, the Ritchies have collaborated with Larry Stein, a local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension plant pathologist, to resume the research.

Larry Stein, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension plant pathologist, speaks to guests at the Ritchie's annual field day. (Leslie Dominguez, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension)

“We needed to continue this if we're going to survive,” Ed said.

The field trials are located on a five-acre plot on the Ritchies’ farm, where they won’t spread to other fields.

“We started off with maybe 100, 200 varieties and now we have over 600 varieties in this year's trial,” Paige said. “We replicate those three times, so it was a long day of planting.”

Downy mildew poses a risk to production. “There's 19 races of downy mildew, plus some new ones that haven't been confirmed yet with a number,” Paige noted.

The Ritchies primarily grow conventional spinach but also organic, where downy mildew is of greater concern. “It's been difficult to control without the proper fungicides because you're limited with what you can use in organic production,” Paige said.

Once a potential field trial variety is identified, it is then planted in the Ritchies’ commercial fields where they test for warm, cold and freeze tolerance. “You need to see things at different time slots, how they perform at different times of the winter,” Paige said. “We have to have an arsenal of varieties to select from.”

More than 130 people from Texas, across the U.S. and even out of country, attended the Ritchie's annual field day to learn about the 600 spinach seed varieties screened for disease resistance. (Leslie Dominguez, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension)

The Ritchies firmly believe a good crop starts with quality seed. “And that starts all the way with the seed production and seed breeders,” Paige said. “That's a never-ending process.”

Ed praised the seed breeders for their diligence and “everything they’ve developed to keep the spinach industry vital. If it weren’t for them with their improvements, we’d probably be out of business.”