Jeff and Jolene Stewart of Wagner, South Dakota are trying several kinds of fruit to see how they grow here.
When we visit them, they are just completing black currant harvest in early August.
At “Stewart’s Aronia Acres” they are commercial growers of aronia. They trialed aronia in their shelterbelt before adding more shrubs. They chose varieties of the native aronia because plants may be more adapted to the region’s soils and climate.
Jeff shows us aronia berries almost ready for harvest in August. See the article that tells about how they started with these plants, what is needed to grow them for home use and find out more about this commercial operation. They are also trialing other fruits. This is the link to their story that appeared in the Yankton Press & Dakotan newspaper:
http://www.yankton.net/river_city/article_8494a22c-89e7-11e6-b125-bbd3b2cd2707.html
If you want to find out more about the Stewart’s, go to “Stewarts Aronia Acres” on Facebook.
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