Biting into an ear of Olathe sweet corn is one of the true manifestations of Colorado summer.
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There are several varieties, but all Olathe (pronounced o-lay-thuh) corn is grown near Montrose in the Uncompahgre Valley. Like Palisade peaches, the crop thrives on the vacillating temperatures of hot days and cool nights.
In the past, corn lovers have grabbed it as fast as they could find it at farmers markets, King Soopers and a few other grocery stores. But this summer, there’s a bit of a catch: The Olathe harvest will be significantly smaller than normal.
The low snowpack has exacerbated an already taxing drought, and less water means fewer crops. Couple that with an influx of devastating pests, increased labor costs and outsized demand for product. As a result, some of the major growers — there are about 15 total — have downsized their operations. That includes one of the largest, the Tuxedo Corn Company.
This year, the Tuxedo Corn Company planted fewer than 200 acres of Olathe Sweet, down from 1,000 acres last summer and 1,600 acres in previous years. And instead of sending its corn to Kroger grocery stores, the company is moving to a direct-to-consumer model. A decidedly old-school approach, Tuxedo will sell pre-packed boxes of Olathe Sweet — a name that Tuxedo founder John Harold trademarked — from the back of refrigerated trucks along the Interstate 25 corridor from Wyoming to Albuquerque.
In order to keep pace with modern demand, the company will take pre-orders on its website tuxedocorn.com, as well as bring additional corn to sell to impromptu buyers. (Two dozen freshly harvested ears will run you about $30 off the truck.) Two trucks will visit 46 towns in three states over eight weeks between July 22 and early September.
John Harold’s son David, who joined the operation in the 2000s, calls it the “truck tour,” and said it harkens back to the corn trucks of his youth when he, his brothers and their friends picked corn in the early morning, loaded the bounty into the back of a pickup, shoveled ice on top, and drove to Montrose to sell until the ears were gone. Tuxedo was founded in 1986.
“I dug up some cassette tapes of my dad talking about Olathe Sweet as it was getting popular. The focus has always been on outstanding corn, iced down, delivered super fresh, and we’re still committed to that,” David Harold said.
But it’s not nostalgia that’s driving this change, it’s the need to downshift, take stock and return to a system that focuses on quality rather than quantity.
“It’s about great farming practices, soil health, human health, our workers, and telling our story. We want to give consumers that clarity and the opportunity to support our brand,” David Harold said.
“It’s also extremely risky. Are we going to sell 10 or 1,000 boxes a stop? We don’t know,” he added.
Despite the risk, Dawn Thilmany, professor of agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University, said she’s thrilled to see Tuxedo trying the direct-to-market model.
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“It shows a lot of entrepreneurial spirit. That’s how they get the whole dollar part, but it comes with a lot of work. And that’s not trivial,” she said.
“I think that’s the reason they’re doing it — peach stands have been doing it forever. But peaches can sit a few days after harvest and still be high quality. Anyone who knows sweet corn knows that it’s best within 24 hours. The problem is that all the people are here and their farm is over there,” she added.
Nevertheless, while the economic impact of a smaller crop may be small for Colorado as a whole, “it will be noticed in the town of Olathe and the communities that have farms, workers, and even a festival” based on the region’s reputation, Thilmany said. “In rural communities with smaller economies, even a 25% decline in harvest and sales can have a substantial impact.”
Reid Fishering, owner and president of 40-year-old Mountain Quality Farms, a collective of nine family farms growing Olathe sweet corn, has also decreased production this year. In total, he said his members planted about 50% fewer acres for a total of just 675. That said, because of the co-op model, Mountain Quality plans to supply its regular customers while also filling the Kroger gap left by Tuxedo.
“Kroger approached me to see what we can do,” Fishering said. “We can cover the Colorado market. I didn’t want to see us lose that.” (Mountain Quality will supply the Denver distribution center for King Soopers and City Market.)
In addition to less sweet corn on the market, the harvest will likely be significantly shorter, too. As Fishering explains it, the Western Slope’s irrigated water will likely be cut off on Sept. 1 instead of the end of October.
“(Our season has) been going until the end of September the past couple of years. But with the water, I’m barely going to be able to cover Labor Day — and it’s paramount that we cover that holiday,” he said.
While recognizing that minimal water is creating additional struggle, Thilmany of CSU is heartened that the water that is available is going to high-value crops. “What I would love to highlight is that where we are still able to apply water in agriculture, we should encourage producers to use it on crops with a high value-per-acre like sweet corn, which currently creates revenues far greater than feed corn. Plus, we want economic activity that stays localized.
“In addition to sweet corn, we also see that localized impact be higher with fruit trees, as well as the wonderful Pueblo chiles and melons that will come in later this summer,” she continued. “That’s the highest chance at capturing the most local economic activity with the water we keep in agriculture.”
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