MIDDLEBURY, Ind. – When Herbert Culver Jr. decided to move his duck operation from Long Island, N.Y., he was looking for a more central location. He chose Indiana and in 1960, Culver brought his company to the northern part of the state.

“Indiana was in the middle of the Corn Belt, in the middle of the United States, which was necessary for transporting (products),” said Drew Frey, the company’s director of live operations. “He knew the future of duck raising wasn’t going to be on Long Island” due to population and environmental concerns.

Indiana is first in the nation in commercial duck production, according to the USDA. The state’s, and nation’s, top two duck producers – Maple Leaf Farms, headquartered in Leesburg, and Culver Duck, based in Middlebury – process about 14-17 million ducks annually.

The two companies probably collectively process 45-50 percent of all ducks in the United States, said Scott Tucker, co-president of Maple Leaf. “When you look at the people we employ, it has a tremendous economic impact across our state. There are tens of thousands of families that are supported through duck operations across Indiana.”

Maple Leaf has about 1,000 workers. Culver Duck employs about 200.

A couple of years before Culver moved his operation to Indiana, Donald Wentzel, Tucker’s maternal grandfather, started Maple Leaf. While in the feed business in Chicago, Wentzel worked with several clients on Long Island, where the duck industry originated in this country, Tucker said. “He had an epiphany one day. Why are these duck farmers raising their animals on expensive real estate on Long Island, so far away from their food source produced here in the Midwest?”

Wentzel eventually started his own duck business and in 1958, he purchased a small processing plant in Milford. The company’s headquarters were there before moving to Leesburg in 2011.

Both companies are in the midst of the prime duck-selling months.

“This is (Culver’s) busiest season, October through February,” Frey noted. “Summer is our slowest. The holidays, they’re always big. And Chinese New Year, that’s huge for us.”

The ethnic market makes up the bulk of the company’s sales. A big portion of their market is Chinese, Laotian and Vietnamese, he said.

For Maple Leaf, the holiday season has been busy, even with the pandemic, Tucker said. “Our volume has picked up significantly. We’ve made an effort to put our products in different forms in retail. Our product is seeing some significant growth because we’ve been able to make the shift from food service, which has been devastated by the pandemic, to retail quickly.”

Maple Leaf and Culver both process White Pekin duck. “That’s what our customers want,” Frey said. “It works with the Asian market. That’s what they’re used to. It’s a more mild duck.”

Ducks are raised similarly to turkey or chicken, Tucker said. Maple Leaf works with about 175 families who serve as contract producers. Most are in northern Indiana and are typically Amish or Mennonite. The birds are raised in free-roaming, vented buildings with access to food and water, he noted.

Culver has 100 contract producers, Frey said. All are in Indiana and most are in Elkhart and LaGrange counties. After Herbert Culver Jr. died six years ago, the company was sold to Dr. Joe Jurgielewicz. He ran a family duck operation in Pennsylvania, Frey said, adding the Culver family knew him and they had a history together.

Whole duck is the top seller for both companies, though they each sell a variety of other duck products.

Culver also offers duck breasts and ground duck. “We have products such as jerky and half duck, to try to make them more user friendly,” Frey explained. “We’re trying to break out more into high-end grocery stores, white table cloth markets. Duck is a little more expensive than chicken. I think people are open to trying it. I think most are trying it in a restaurant. They aren’t necessarily taking it home.”

Maple Leaf has half duck, legs, breasts and bacon. They also utilize the feathers, which are washed and sterilized, through a sister brand, Down Inc.

“Our focus has been making it easier to prepare duck, whether people are trying it for the first time or coming back to duck,” Tucker said. “We’re getting tremendous distribution at retail. We’re trying to take the stigma out of duck and get away from the misconception duck is fatty or greasy and difficult to prepare. Duck has a unique flavor, but not the gamey, buckshot-laden bird your grandfather shot. There’s no better time to try it when you’re getting fatigued with the same old thing.”

For more information, including recipes and cooking tips, visit www.mapleleaffarms.com or www.culverduck.com.