Rogers Orchards

Founded by Chauncey Merriman in 1807, this family farm began operating in 1809, after Merriman's son, Anson, and four-year-old grandson, Josiah, began its apple orchards by planting one thousand Baldwin apple trees by hand. Spanning "eight generations", the family farm, which came to be called Rogers Orchards, expanded to a operation split between two locations, the Home Farm and Sunnymount Farm, both located in Southington. John Rogers, the president of Rogers Orchards and the great-great-great-great grandson of Chauncey Merriman, runs the operation, which has an estimated 18 employees. ==Trade association memberships==

Rogers Orchards is an active member of trade organizations of Connecticut fruit growers, including: the Connecticut Pomological Society; the Connecticut Apple Marketing Board; the New England Apple Association; and the New England Apple Council. and a former president of the Connecticut Pomological Society. ==Site of Connecticut farm investment program launch==

On July 25, 2008, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell used Rogers Orchards as a setting to announce the launch of a $500,000 investment program designed to aid Connecticut's farmers. Rogers Orchards President John Rogers acknowledged in a newspaper interview that he did not know why the governor chose his farm as the setting for her visit and announcement, but that he was pleased by her presence and support of local independent farming operations. ==Notes==