De Jong Brothers, well-known Lansing produce farm, closes

LANSING, Ill. (WLS) -- De Jong Brothers, a well-known Chicago-area produce farm, is closing down.

Workers at the Lansing, Ill. farm say they were caught off guard when they were told they were out of a job.

This time of year the spinach is coming up and usually De Jong Brothers Farm would be adding workers' hours to help with the spring harvest and packing season.

But Walt's in South Holland, Ill. may have gotten the last shipment of spinach from De Jong's.

Workers say they came to De Jong's earlier this week and were given a final paycheck.

Raymondo Salamanca was a manager. He said he came in Tuesday for work, and then on Wednesday, was told there was no more work.

Many of these workers tell us they had worked for De Jong for 20 or 30 years.

"The work was very hard, very exhausting, and now suddenly it's goodbye," said Odelia Lira. "It's difficult for us.

Ana Lopez has relatives and friends who were laid off.

"That's hard, you have a lot of people here who have a family," Lopez said.

ABC 7 visited De Jong in 2006. At the time, the owners showed us shared their system to reduce chances of contaminated spinach.

For decades, the De Jong family has relied on workers to operate this family farm; now among those out of work are some of their relatives.

"It's sad, it's really sad," said Ken De Jong.

De Jong is part of the family, but says his brother and nephew - who did not return calls to ABC 7 - run the business.

He suspects fewer growers and increasing federal regulation may have led to this difficult decision.

"We grew up as a Christian family so we try and do everything honest and up right and the government comes in with so many rules and regulations, you just can't keep up with them. It's sad," De Jong said.

While De Jong can share rich memories of a family business that began with his grandfather at the turn of the century, he is now a part-time employee and will be among the seasoned workers looking for work.