Pawpaws to the People!

That’s what we’ve been doing with Integration Acres Ltd. since 1996, when we first commercially offered freshly picked pawpaws, followed with our seedless frozen pawpaw pulp 1998 and then are line of jarred products in 2000.

Upon graduation from Ohio University (Athens, Ohio), with a Specialized Studies Degree titled Wholistic Transition to Sustainability, company founder Chris Chmiel was searching for a way to make a living while staying true to his values and his interest in sustainable, organic food production.

While studying and farming in Mexico in the early 1990s, Chris was exposed to a wonderful exotic tree fruit called Guanabana, or Sour Sop. Its large seeds seemed similar to its North American cousin, Asimina triloba, commonly known as the pawpaw tree. Mexicans were using it in juices, lollipops, ice creams and more. Years later, after watching pounds and pounds of delicious pawpaw fruit rotting on the ground, Chris decided to investigate further potential uses for this wonderful native treasure. He discovered that native cultures and frontiersmen alike relied heavily on pawpaws for sustenance. He was also pleasantly surprised to meet a whole movement of chefs, farmers, scientists and other pawpaw enthusiasts interested in returning the pawpaw to the diets of modern people.

So Chris got involved in the pawpaw movement, getting the word out in his local community on pawpaws and all he had learned. He started gathering all the pawpaws he could and eventually started buying them from others in the area, soon realizing that he was in the Pawpaw Capital of the World.

Southern Ohio had been recognized for its superior “wild” pawpaws before. Back in 1918, the American Genetic Association had a contest for the best pawpaws. Samples were sent from all over the eastern United States, with Southern Ohio boasting the top three pawpaws and five total in the top ten.

Now Chris helps local growers and gatherers in the region make money from a natural resource while also preserving pawpaws from destruction. He farms them with semi-wild cultivation methods developed and researched with the help from a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant, Increasing Production in Native Stands of Pawpaws.

He harvests pawpaws and other products like mushrooms, firewood, spicebush berries and other forest-farmed crops, using agricultural techniques in harmony with nature. Integration Acres strives to use less fossil fuel energy to produce higher quality fruit without the use of chemical herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. Chris also is researching uses of the black walnut hulls with a USDA SARE grant entitled Black Walnut Hulls: Turning Trash into Treasure.

Eventually Chris developed a system to integrate animals into his pawpaw farming, thanks to another USDA SARE grant (Using Animals to Manage Pawpaw Patches). He quickly saw that pawpaws have several competitive advantages when growing with grazing animals. Though primarily fly-pollinated, the main reason grazing animals and pawpaws intermingle so well are the powerful chemicals known as Annonaceous acetogenins that exist in the pawpaw tree leaves and bark. These intense, extractable chemicals have bee used in lice remover shampoos, cell regulators and internal parasite cleansers. Plus, these same chemicals keep animals from grazing on the leaves or twigs of the pawpaws.

And anyone who’s ever handled a pawpaw will tell you that its fragile shelf life is a major obstacle to the fruit’s widespread production and distribution. So Chris began pioneering work in the processing, freezing and jarring of pawpaws. Now, a decade later, Integration Acres is the world’s largest pawpaw processor and supplier of pawpaw products.

Integration Acres ships fresh fruit (seasonally) across the United States, and boasts an established line of jarred and frozen pawpaw products, plus other items made from indigenous plants like spicebush, ramps and wild mushrooms. Large quantities of pawpaw biomass, seeds, fruit, frozen seedless pulp and shelf stable products are available as well. Pawpaw orchards and a nursery are in their early stages.

Chris has recently expanded Integration Acres to include a small goat dairy. The goat herd helps manage the pawpaw orchards; Chris gets fresh goat milk in return. He hopes to begin production of farmstead goat cheese by summer 2007.

Integration Acres also can accommodate groups who want to learn more about the farm and its eco-minded business practices. On-site field trips can be arranged, or Chris can make presentations to your group or organization. Internships are also available.

Integration Acres is dedicated to providing delicious, nutritious and out-of-the-ordinary products that come directly from the farms and hills of Southeastern Ohio. Your purchase is a vote for sustainable agriculture and the family farm - thank you!