Evergreen Orchard Farm, Trenton, NJ

Located 8 miles east of Trenton in Hamilton Township is the truly one-of-a-kind Evergreen Orchard Farm. Evergreen is one of only five farms in the U.S. that grow the gigantic, succulent and highly coveted Singo pear. The farm also grows and sells four other varieties of Asian pears, yellow peaches, persimmons, chestnuts, jujubes, and Fuji apples. Established in 1986 by Chong Kim, the 400-acre farm faced hurdles as Kim adjusted his Korean agricultural techniques to the American pests and crop diseases. In Kim’s own words: “what you see here is attempt number three, try one and two at this location were failures”.

Kim utilizes several innovative farming techniques that likely are the reason he has succeeded. The most obvious is an arch – trellis system where the pears are trained into long arched tunnels. These tunnels protect the fruit from high winds, allow more sunlight into the center of the tree making the fruit stronger and sweeter, increase crop yields, extend the trees productive life, and the trees also require less chemical applications.