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The Story of Cooper Farms |
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 Tim & Kathy
Cooper when they first met.
Tim is planting his first orchard. |
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In 1970 Tim Cooper, came from Dallas to Fairfield as a young boy with his family when his father was assigned to be the first personnel manager for TXU’s Big Brown Steam Electric Station. Tim was 12 at the time and he soon found himself working at Fairfield, Farms. Fairfield Farms was started by the late Ralph K. Alexander, from Houston. Mr. Alexander took Tim under his wing and taught him what he knew about growing peaches. Tim continued to work for Mr. Alexander each summer during his high school years. After Mr. Alexander sold Fairfield Farms to Duncan McCoy, Tim stayed on a manager throughout his college-age years. |
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In 1978 Tim planted his first peach orchard on Lover’s Lane right outside the Fairfield city limits. Tim was attending college at Texas A&M at the time. Tim and Kathy met the same year when she moved to Fairfield for the summer and Kathy also worked at Fairfield Farms. Not a Fairfield native herself, Kathy had grown up in Guadalajara, Mexico, the daughter of a missionary. She moved back to the “States” in her teens and graduated from Los Fresnos High School in the Rio Grande Valley. Upon graduating from high school, Kathy’s brother-in-law, Joe Hancock, invited her to come live in Fairfield with him and her sister, April. He had told her about Fairfield, Farms, a peach orchard right across the road from their house and he thought it would be a convenient place for her to work in the summer. So Kathy worked there every summer between semesters at Stephen F. Austin State University. During those summers Tim and Kathy came to be good friends and in 1983 were married and found a place to live in Fairfield. |
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Tim & Kathy
on their wedding day. |
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Bloom
stage in our first orchard... |
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Tim had started a fence business the year the married and Kathy had gone to work for Texas Utilities Mining Company a few months before as a secretary, and later as one of the maintenance technicians assigned to the Cross Pit Spreader system. So while they both had a day job, they spent their evenings and weekends working at their, then 8-acre orchard. They did all of the farm labor they could by themselves but hired a few people to help them out from time to time. All of their peaches were sold roadside at the corner of i-45 next to |
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where Sam’s Restaurant is located today. Today the truck stand is a permanent fixture all summer long. But back then, Kathy would drive the truck to the stand in the mornings and stay there until she hand no more peaches to sell. When she sold out, she would take the truck back to the farm where Tim was picking and he would put more peaches on her truck. If there were people at the stand when she sold out, they would simply follow Kathy to the farm where Tim would load them up with fresh picked peaches right into the trunk of their car. After they went on their way, more peaches were loaded on Kathy’s truck and she would head back out to the interstate to sell out again. This would go on all weekend long. Since Tim and Kathy were both still working jobs |
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This is our store
at our farm in Fairfield, TX. Notice our business hours,
Can 'til Can't..
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during the week they hired someone out of school for the summer to sell whatever peaches were picked during the week.
As the business increased, Tim took all the money he made from the fence business and used it to acquire more land and more trees. He also added more roadside stands. Now peaches were going to Corsicana, Madisonville, and Huntsville to be sold roadside. Things were going well until the first year
the peaches suffered a late freeze and Tim and Kathy were without a crop. The realized if they were going to survive as farmers they would need to diversify. But they weren’t sure what to diversity into. They happened to meet some growers at a conference who were growing greenhouse tomatoes. After careful research they decided this was something they would like to do. So in 1989 they started growing greenhouse tomatoes. That year Tim and Kathy were also expecting their first child. |
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1990 was a year for many firsts. They picked their first tomato from their first greenhouses. They also started a family when their first child, Ben, was born. This was also the same year their farm was actually named.. Cooper Farms.
After their daughter, Elizabeth was born; Kathy knew she wanted to stay home with the children. So she and Tim worked together to make that possible. By the time Ben started school; Kathy was able to leave her job at TXU and in 1998 Tim was also able to sell out his partnership in his fence business and devote his time completely to farming. |
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Our
Tomato Houses... |
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Up to this time, the Coopers had sold everything they grew strictly road-side. They have always liked the direct contact with our customers and not having to go through a middle man. They have developed many friendships through the years and roadside selling for them seemed the only way to market their peaches as far as they were concerned. But the grocery stores were becoming more and more aware of the need to provide local produce in their stores. Tim and Kathy were initially approached by H-E-B about the possibility of having their peaches in the new Central Market stores in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Tim planted more trees to meet the |
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increase in demand. He wanted to continue selling roadside but still be able to supply Central Market with what they wanted. Over a period of time Tim became comfortable with this and soon was invited to send their peaches to other grocery chains as well.
Today they continue to sell “road-side” in many towns along the
I-45 corridor. They have recently opened a “convenience stand” at exit 198 where they have added homemade pies and home-made ice cream, along with Cooper Farms gas! The Coopers send peaches to Houston, Dallas, and Austin with a variety of outlets, thanks to H-E-B, Central Market, Whole Foods, Sprouts, and many smaller stores who are just as important in getting their peaches, blackberries, plums, figs, tomatoes, etc. to customers.
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If
only this old tractor could talk... |
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Their children, Ben and Elizabeth have grown with them and have taken over many of the day to day tasks that Tim and Kathy used to do.
As they look back on the past 33 years since they met and we began their journey as husband/wife, peach grower/partner and family/parent, Tim and Kathy are amazed and humbled at what has been accomplished with the small talents they were given. They know it all happened (the marriage, the peach operation, and the family) because of hard work and reaching toward the same goals, and never giving up on each other. They have encouraged one another along the way when it was difficult and seemed too hard (again in marriage, peach operation, and family). It is only through their faith in God and the faith that their family, friends, and customers have had in them that the Coopers have “grown” to who they are today. It is their hope that when you stop to buy a peach from a
Cooper Farms truck, A Cooper Farms Country Store, or a Cooper Farms display in your local grocery store, that you will realize how much they have enjoyed “growing” for you.
God is good all the time.
- By Kathy Cunningham Cooper |
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More about
COOPER FARMS...
Cooper
Farms is a member of the Taste of Texas Program, now the
Go Texas Program.
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In 1994, Tim received the Fort Worth Star Telegram's "Peach Grower
of the Year" award,
and the "Tomato Grower of the Year" award.
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Tim served as the President of the Texas Fruit Growers Association
in 1994 and 1995. He is presently a Director.
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In 1998, Tim was awarded the "Freestone County Agricultural Producer
of the Year" award, presented to him by the Area Chambers, the Freestone
County Soil Conservation District, and the Freestone County Extension
Service.
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Ben and Elizabeth are also doing their part by working hard in school
and doing their chores at home.
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The Coopers attend First United Methodist in Fairfield, Texas.
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Become a Fan of Cooper Farms on Facebook! |
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