TKM Bengard Farms, LLC.

TKM Bengard Farms, LLC. Grower of Quality Lettuce As the farm sign says, TKM is a grower of quality lettuce, supplying processors. Our business was small at first.

When bagged salads first hit the marketplace, however, they were mostly produced on the West Coast. As demand increased, processors built salad plants east of the Mississippi to serve areas along the East Coast. In 1996, three of the Basore brothers — Toby, Kevin, and Michael — started TKM Farms with the intention of supplying processors with lettuce. Their father, Tom Sr., helped his sons find a

partner: Bengard Ranch in Salinas, CA. Today, all six of the Basore brothers are involved in the business. According to Brian, one of the six, each brother — which includes Toby, Kevin, Michael, Stephen, and Tom Jr. — handles a specific component of the business (to find out more about the duties of each Basore brother, see “A Band Of Brothers” sidebar). Once the partnership between the Basore and Bengard families was established, the next step was to find the right lettuce varieties to grow for processing. They turned to university researchers and seed breeders to develop varieties of iceberg and Romaine lettuce that were on par with varieties grown in the West.
“The game-changing moment occurred when the lettuce variety Gator was developed,” says Toby, who manages production and crop inputs. “That was the variety that put us on the map. Gator was a variety that had no internal problems and a short core for processing.
“We learned how to slot like they do on the West Coast for the fall, winter, or spring months with different varieties,” Toby continues. “Our program got tighter and we had a consistent supply of quality lettuce all season. We were trialing new varieties and going in to visit customers. Florida had a bad name for lettuce for processing, but a few customers tried our lettuce and they realized ours was comparable to what was produced on the West Coast.” (By Rosemary Gordon/Senior Managing Editor of Growingproduce.com)

04/27/2024

Thank You TKM Bengard Farms, LLC. for being a Grower Sponsor of this years 24th Annual Sweet Corn Fiesta!

11/02/2023

Congratulations to the 2023 EAA Farm Family of the Year - Rodríguez Family! Their roots are deep in the EAA and important to our ag community.

04/29/2023
04/29/2023
01/04/2023

My son is at a nature center field trip today:
Instructor- What can we do to help manatees?
My son- Well, I'm a farmer and I would plant food for them so they can eat.
That's my boy and exactly what TKM Bengard Farms, LLC. did!

05/08/2022

Roger Carnahan Hatton, 77, went to be with his Lord, Friday, May 6, 2022. He was surrounded by loving family and under expert care at Shanti Niketan Hospice House, Glasgow, KY, when he passed away. ...

03/11/2022

Manatee UME weekly update
Over 1,000 lbs. of leafy greens: this is what gets offered several times daily to manatees at the Temporary Field Response Station in Brevard County, as part of the supplemental feeding trial. More than 110,000 lbs. of lettuce – mostly romaine and butterleaf and ALL from Florida farms – have been provided by authorized staff since Jan. 20!

Wondering why lettuce instead of vegetation that manatees naturally graze on? We consulted with manatee experts and veterinarians and determined leafy greens were the best option for providing nutrients during this limited, short-term trial.

Want to help manatees? Don’t try to feed them yourself – it can teach them to associate people with food and is illegal. Leave it to the experts, who are offering supplemental food in ways that prevent negative impacts to manatee behavior, migration patterns and habitat. Almost all the lettuce has been purchased with money from generous donors. Learn how you can join them: https://wildlifeflorida.givingfuel.com/marine-mammal-fund.

Call the FWC’s Wildlife Alert hotline if you see an injured, sick, orphaned or dead manatee at 888-404-FWCC (3922). Learn about other ways to help: https://myfwc.com/research/manatee/rescue-mortality-response/ume/

10/12/2020
05/19/2020

Address

2305 Cypress Lane
Belle Glade, FL
33430

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 8pm
Tuesday 8am - 8pm
Wednesday 8am - 8pm
Thursday 8am - 8pm
Friday 8am - 8pm
Saturday 8am - 8pm
Sunday 8am - 8pm

Telephone

+15619961980

Website

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