Who We Are

We are the Michigan Celery Promotion Cooperative, Inc. We’re a grower-owned marketing and processing cooperative. We founded our cooperative in June of 1951 to improve quality, stabilize prices, and promote our members’ share of the Michigan celery industry.

Michigan is the birthplace of the nation’s celery industry. Dutch farmers in the Kalamazoo area began growing and marketing celery in the 1850s as a curiosity and a food delicacy. Today, a historical marker and museum in Kalamazoo recognizes the pioneer farmers who established the celery industry.

In Michigan, we grow nearly all celery on muck soils, for good buffering of nutrients and moisture. But this land is low and can flood. Growers mitigate the risk of flooding by tilling their fields to help with drainage. Celery growers love to farm and get satisfaction from producing a high-quality crop, but it takes good yields and favorable market prices to keep them in business.