It's a berry, berry good year

This time of year, long rows of short, green plants with speckles of red strawberries sit in a field just off of Interstate 55 in Benton, Missouri. It's owned by fourth-generation Southeast Missouri farmer Cameron Beggs, who grows three different types of strawberries and various other produce in the fields outside his home and market shop, Beggs Berry World.

Beggs said he grew up on a watermelon farm where, for some time, three generations worked together to carry on the business that began around 1895 when his great grandfather, William Arthur Beggs, first planted watermelons in Missouri after moving from Illinois.

"They primarily had a row-crop farm and watermelons, so I basically grew up in a watermelon field," Beggs said about the family business, which still continues through him and his cousin, Donnie, who runs Beggs Family Farm in Blodgett, Missouri. "When I was 5 years old, I was chopping watermelons in front of my mom, you know, cause I was too little to get all the weeds so she'd had me go in front of her and get as many as I could, and she'd chop out the rest of the row."

After college, Beggs decided to buy part of his grandfather's land to farm his own crops. He said that he was not as interested in row crops, such as grains, beans, cotton and maize among others, but produce that he would want to eat.

"If I don't like the fruit or vegetable, chances are I don't grow it. But my Uncle Sam, one time he said, 'Our watermelons are so good, if I could eat them all I would.' But, we can't eat them all, so we sell some and that's kind of the way I am with the strawberries and the peaches and the watermelon," Beggs said.

Cathy Beggs mixes carrot cake flavors into freshly churned ice cream at Beggs Berry World in Benton on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.Sarah Yenesel ~ sarahy@semissourian.com

Beggs and his spouse, Cathy, have tried to make their farm more than just an area to grow and harvest food. They do so by selling most of their products at the store on the farm's property, hosting festival-type events and offering "you-pick" options on their popular crops, such as strawberries, peaches and pumpkins.

Cathy said one of her favorite parts of having a "you-pick" farm is seeing the families and their children.

"We love it when kids come back to the store and they get an ice cream cone and their face is just dripping with strawberries," she said.

They started hosting festivals around their seasonal produce and just hosted their first annual Strawberry Festival on May 15.

In addition to selling the produce, they make their own products from it, such as jams and pies, and Cathy makes homemade ice cream in about 40 flavors.

Strawberries are growing at various stages, some ready for harvest and some still green, in the fields at Beggs Berry World in Benton on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.Sarah Yenesel ~ sarahy@semissourian.com

Cameron said some people call ahead to reserve their orders because they will come from many miles away. They are willing to hold food if customers are traveling a far distance.

The Beggses are currently in their strawberry season, with buckets of berries, berry jams and berry pies flying out of the shop. Cameron said they started to dabble in the crop about 27 years ago and for eight to 10 years, it wasn't profitable. After years of experimenting and learning how others do it, especially farms in California and Florida, the Beggses found their best growing model, an annual rotating crop system with plastic covering the soil surrounding the plant.

Cameron said he has been in produce farming for about 55 years and the reason he continues to do so is because of the fulfillment he gets from it.

"I just love [produce farming.] I love growing it. I love watching people buy it. I love people, you know, the compliments that you get, and because we do everything possible to get the very highest quality that we can possibly grow. We're not interested in the highest profit level, but I guess my dad told me when I was young that you only have to answer for price one time, but you have to answer for quality forever," he said.