Darrel Koolman of Koolman Family Farm is a young local Aruba farmer who specializes in Tomatoes. His background is in Regenerative Agriculture. Darrel has known since the age of seven that he wanted to do something in Agriculture and since then he hasn’t looked back.
Darrel’s passion for growing food first started at home. As part of his chores growing up he would water the trees around his house and this triggered his interest in plants. He decided to study Regenerative Agriculture but he wanted to specialize in growing food for consumption. He read up on Curtis Stone and from there he would take more online courses and read more books to gain knowledge.
Darrel began experimenting with Spinache, Cucumber, Beets and Kale but he found his real interest is in Tomatoes. He found out that Tomatoes is the second most popular crop in the world. He also found out that his Niece really likes Tomatoes so that also motivated him to grow Tomatoes. Darrel loves to experiment with different types of Tomatoes but he is also learning to graft them which in itself is an art. He hopes to pair strong rootstocks with different varieties that don’t have as strong a root. For right now Darrel hand polinates but certainly in the future our Local Bees would love to help him out.
For right now Darrel is experimenting with Cherry Tomatoes, Plum Tomatoes and Slicing Tomatoes. Currently he is selling at Farmer’s Markets and directly to customers. In the future he wants to experiment more with Beets and Carrots but for the time being he is focused more on Tomatoes. Darrel’s goal is to increase his production in order to sell more to his customers.
What makes Darrell's Tomatoes unique? They are locally grown and they are grown in soil, which in Aruba is not easy since the soil is dry and clayish. If you are interested in reaching out to Darrel for locally grown Tomatoes he has a Facebook page called Koolman Family Farm, his Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@koolmanfarm9212 and his cell phone number is: 5687780.
