Leighton Rice: A Passion For Horticulture
September 19, 2013 Editor’s Note: Leighton Rice is part of the third generation at R&L Orchards and Rice Fruit Company in Adams County, PA. In this article, he discusses how he got into agriculture, and how he plans to move forward in the fruit industry.
A Quick Introduction
Leighton Rice started full-time at R&L in March of 2007 after having worked there for three summers. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Haverford College where he majored in religion with a concentration in literature and representation. “Steeping myself in mystical poetry might have given me the fortitude to undertake a career in fruit, but it would have been nice to know a few things about tractors when I started.”
Rice says it’s hard to say what attracted him to agriculture. “We Adams County growers are blessed with a microclimate that leaves us wondering whether it’s a year to pray for more rain or less rain. Beyond that, there are at least 13 or 14 days in the year when you might enjoy being outside the whole day.”
Rice spent two weeks thinning apples in a young orchard of Yorks during his first summer of work on the farm. The trees became a part of him, and no other work seemed right afterwards. “My decision to go into agriculture is as basic as that.”
Q: What is your primary role at R&L Orchard?
It changes often. I began at the very bottom. I have come to see that as a blessing. Now I seem to have a place in every level of the company. Until recently I acted as something along the lines of chief administrator and liaison for accounting. My wife was hired in February to do HR for R&L and Rice Fruit Company jointly, and she has since taken over a lot of the things I used to do. When the season started I began working directly underneath my uncle Mark to help him manage three of our farms on the Western side of the Adams County fruit belt. I have found this work to be very rewarding.
Q: Why did you choose agriculture as a profession?
I do see it as a duty to carry on the family business, but I think I have a real passion for horticulture as well. I feel that if I couldn’t work in our family business that I would want to work for another grower.
Q: What are some of the particular challenges for your generation?
We are in the middle of figuring out a plan to transition the business from generation two to generation three. This is a challenge for everyone involved but it seems a little rockier for my generation than it would have been for the last one. Historically, kids grow up with the thought: “We’re going to grow up and work the business like Dad.” There’s nothing wrong with this, but the relationships are different in my generation. We have grown up in a different world with more opportunities and perhaps walked into a business that is vastly different than the one our parents took over.
As far as the business, I think apples have become more of a specialty item and thus more of a challenge all around. When our parents took over the business they were moving a commodity through well-worn channels. Now you always have to be on the lookout for the next big thing and to capture that market, even if it only lasts a short time. This requires the courage and flexibility to plant and manage many new varieties. It seems to me that growers and packers have to play cards more than they did in the past.
There’s also the labor situation, and it’s a dilemma that doesn’t have any clear resolutions.
Q: What are some opportunities for your generation?
Anything is possible. Communication has become so sophisticated that the whole system might soon experience a sea change. The current model in wholesale fruit delivers a product with a long trail (picked, delivered, sorted, stored, packed, stacked, shipped, stored, unpacked, purchased, carried, etc.). Today’s customer likes to be connected as directly as possible, and there’s no reason why they can’t be connected. My cousins and I believe that there is a way to direct market at high volume, especially with some of the newer varieties, and we plan to explore the possibilities as soon as we take care of all the other stuff we have to do.
Q: How do you see new technology impacting how you farm today and in the future?
I think that my great-great-great-great-great grandfather envisioned a machine to pick apples, so I have my doubts that it’s something I will ever see on the farm either. I think the biggest improvements in farming will continue to be access to information. My uncle Mark talks about the days of being glued to the weather forecast on AM radio. If a storm seemed imminent he had to go out in the truck and catch all the spray operators before they mixed again. Now you just call them or text them on their cell phones and they’re already a step ahead of you because they’re watching the radar on their weather app of choice. Agriculture has as much to benefit in communications technology as any other industry, and communications is the sector with the most momentum at the moment.
Q: What are the most important things you’ve learned from your family?
Like all successful people, they work very hard and they are careful and methodical in all that they do. And I am proud to say that each, in his own way, always strives to do the right thing. These are the values that our generation has learned and that we carry into our responsibilities toward the company, even if those responsibilities are different. In particular, I have always been impressed by their ability to think big and see far ahead.
Q: Where do you want to take the farm in the next 10 years?
I’d like to see the political situation clear up before I create my own vision. It’s easy to become preoccupied with the business side of things and to forget that you are growing fruit for people to eat. If your goal is to grow good fruit for people to eat and you work hard, then you will find success. To that end, I’d like only to put in place some efficiencies that make life a little less hectic and then get back to doing the things that farmers have done for thousands of years.
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