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Just outside Beecher, Illinois, an unobtrusive metal building
conceals a thriving underground business. Relatively quiet
much of the year, in February and March the muffled din of
machinery can be heard emanating from within the building’s
walls. Trucks come and then, laden with their cargo, leave.
Two brothers-in-law oversee this unassuming empire.
 This isn’t a scene
from a Hollywood drug movie, or from the plot of the latest
spy novel. It isn’t a shadowy conspiracy. What partners Doug
Disselkoen and Dave Mulder mean by an underground business is
just that. Unlike the corn and soybeans of neighboring
farmers, Disselkoen and Mulder Farms’ primary crop is produced
underground – literally. They are a major producer of onion
sets.
Disselkoen and Mulder
Farms grows yellow, white and red onion sets, mostly for the
home garden market. About 60 percent of the production is
yellow sets, the most popular, according to the pair. Another
30 percent are white sets, and the remaining 10 percent are
red sets.
The company also
raises between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds of shallots each year.
In addition, Disselkoen and Mulder Farms buys and packages
garlic. The garlic they sell is bought from producers
elsewhere because garlic doesn’t grow particularly well in
their area, they say.
The remainder of the
1,800-acre operation is in more traditional corn and soybeans.
Starting from scratch
Surprisingly, neither
Disselkoen nor Mulder had a farm background before they got
into the business. Dave’s grandfather was a truck farmer who
coincidentally raised onion sets. But, that was about as close
as either of them had been to agriculture. In the early 1970s,
a friend bought 29 acres of farm ground and asked Disselkoen
and Mulder if they would be interested in farming it for him.
They said, "yes." They planted wheat.
Another friend bought
land and asked them to farm it for him. Then another suggested
contacting a small marketing cooperative of local onion set
growers. Disselkoen and Mulder joined the organization and
began raising onion sets, starting with eight acres that first
year. From that small start, they have continually grown the
business into what it is today.
Over the years, most
producers in the cooperative exited the business and there are
only two growers left. As the co-op dwindled, the two partners
worked on developing their own markets.
Thirty years ago, the
primary market consisted of "Mom-and-Pop" fruit and vegetable
stands, according to Disselkoen. But that has all changed.
Today, their main customers are seed houses, chain stores and
garden centers.
Disselkoen and Mulder
have always done their own processing of the onion sets they
grow. The majority is still processed and shipped in plastic
mesh bags holding a bushel, or 32 pounds of sets. However,
Disselkoen points out, the market for consumer packaging has
been growing steadily over the last 10 years. So, the company
now packages a steadily increasing portion of its crop in the
small mesh bags of about 80 onion sets preferred by most home
gardeners. Shipped in cases of 50 to retailers, these consumer
bags now represent about 20 percent of production.
Over the years, the
operation has tried other ventures, such as tomatoes grown for
processing. But the onion sets have remained the mainstay.
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