A Comparative On-farm Study of Root Crop Production and Postharvest Systems for Scaling Up Diversified Vegetable Farms

There was a learning curve with using new equipment and tools in year one. Some worked well immediately and some took practice and adjustments to learn to use effectively. 

For Ten Hens Farm, in 2017, the Jang Seeder dramatically decreased the amount of seed used and eliminated the need to thin carrots. They learned that pelleted carrots were a better selection than naked seed when using the Jang seeder. Although they did not count the seeds that were seeded with the Jang, visually they were able to determine that they planted drastically less seed than when they used an Earthway seeder like they had in the past. In the 250 ft double rows that Ten Hens Farm plants carrots in, they would use approximately 10,000 seeds (based on the size of the seed packets ordered). When they switched to using the Jang seeder, they used approximately 3,000 seeds in the same space since they were able to calibrate the precision seeder to drop 6 seeds per foot. They were also able to seed both rows at the same time with the multi-row seeder. In the past they would have had to seed them as individual rows. The rows were also straighter than with an Earthway seeder which allowed for easier cultivation - cultivation that did not take out large areas of carrots due to non-straight rows. Carrots seeded with the Jang seeder did not need to be thinned at all thereby saving labor hours and wages as well as the strain it takes to thin large areas of carrots by hand.

For Ten Hens Farm in 2018, the Jang seeder allowed them to become even more efficient and proficient. They increased the amount of seeds dropped per foot to approximately 12 to increase the density so that the carrots would establish a better canopy and shade out weeds later in the season. The best stands resulted from using the Jang seeding "puck" MJ-24. They also doubled the amount of rows of carrots per bed from two to four. This allowed them to produce more carrots per area and also aided in shading out weeds later in the season. There were similar results to the 2017 season in that the rows were straighter with the Jang seeder than they would have been with the Earthway they used in the past and they did not need to be thinned because of the precision seeding which resulted in decreased labor time dedicated to the carrots.   

Timing and irrigation with the flame weeder took some practice as well. Since 2017 was such a dry year in Bath, Michigan, germination of earlier plantings of carrots were fairly poor. In early plantings Ten Hens Farm used the flame weeder but since irrigation was not in place the weeds often emerged after flame weeding when rain did finally come. For the fall/winter storage planting, Ten Hens Farm had irrigation in place and used the flame weeder 9 days after planting. Fall carrot beds were formed on 6/23/17 and beds were seeded on 7/9/17. Each bed was 250 ft long and consisted of a double row of 'Bolero' carrots. Five beds were planted for a total of 2,500 total bed feet. Beds were flamed on 7/18/17. Total time to seed these beds was 6 minutes. The field that these carrots were seeded in has a high weed seed bank due to poor weed management in previous years. The flame weeder decreased early weeding needs but Ten Hens Farm did have to hand weed these carrots two times. Without the early flame weeder, the carrots would not have gotten established because there would have been early weed pressure. Subsequent hand weeding was made easier because the carrots were able to establish and grow before the next round of weeds germinated. Marketable yields for carrots from these rows was 1,340 lbs. Total sales from these beds was $3,655. The carrots did not get as large as we would have liked at harvest and that, along with some groundhog damage, is what is attributed to lower than expected yields. There is now a large, permanent electrical fence in place that should deter the groundhogs and we will also seed carrots the third or fourth week of June so they have longer to grow. Ten Hens Farm will also ensure more consistent watering throughout the growing period. 

In 2018, Ten Hens Farm only did a fall/winter planting of carrots so that they could focus on good germination, weeding, and yields. They had irrigation in place, which they did not have in the first plantings of 2017 and used the flame weeder 5 days after planting. An overhead irrigation system using Senninger Wobblers on 3ft pvc risers spaced at approximately 20 ft allowed them to flame weed without having to remove the irrigation and then relay it after flamming. The combination of having consistent irrigation in place and correct timing with the flame weeder reduced the amount of time hand weeding took in 2018. While they did one hand weeding, as compared to two in 2017, the hand weeding took much less time in 2018. Fall carrot beds were formed on 7/20/18 and beds were seeded on 7/25/18. Each bed was 100 ft long and consisted of a four rows of 'Bolero' carrots. Seven beds were planted for a total of 2,800 total bed feet. Beds were irrigated immediately and flamed on 7/30/18. They were kept watered until emergence which resulted in much better germination rates than in 2017. Total time to seed these beds was 15 minutes. Without the early flame weeder, the carrots would not have gotten established because there would have been early weed pressure. Subsequent hand weeding was also made easier because the carrots were able to establish and grow before the next round of weeds germinated. Marketable yields for carrots from these rows was 1,480 lbs. Current total sales from these beds is $2,695. Ten Hens Farm has 170 lbs currently remaining in their cooler. At the average price they have received for this season's carrots, the total potential sales for 2018 carrots is $3,004. They produced a similar yield per row foot as 2017 but were able to produce that in a much smaller area by seeding four rows instead of two per bed. Carrots from 2018 were much larger than carrots from 2017 since they were irrigated more evenly throughout their entire growth and weed pressure was lower due to the timing of the flame weeder.  Based on results from Green Gardens Community Farm, another farm involved in this project, Ten Hens Farm is planning to increase their seeding density to 20 seeds per foot in-row as that resulted in large marketable yields of quality carrots for Green Gardens. Harvesting and washing carrots at Ten Hens Farm was also more efficient as they were larger and took less overall time than smaller carrots. 

In 2017, The implementation of the Spedo potato digger, the Wunderbar disc hiller and cultivation toolbar, and the addition of a second large walk-in cooler completely changed Presque Isle Farm’s potato production system. By mechanizing almost all steps in the system, they increased their production by over 1000%. Presque Isle Farm planted 450 lbs of potatoes including 9 different varieties on approximately ⅓ of an acre. Compost and fertilizer/amendment were applied prior to planting at the recommended rate. The potatoes were planted 12” apart in single rows, on 4’ centers. The rows were hilled three times throughout the season at 6”, 12”, and 18”. The hills were side dressed with 13-0-0 organic fertilizer prior to the third hilling. Potato beetle pressure was low during the 2017 season so the field was never sprayed but they walked the field weekly starting at the beginning of July to hand pick beetles. The plants were cut back at least 2 weeks before harvesting. To efficiently use the Spedo digger, the plant material must be completely broken down or moved off of the hills prior to digging. Heavy weed pressure would also hinder the effectiveness of the digger. Starting in August, they began digging weekly and would only dig the current week’s needs. They finally dug all of the potatoes for storage at the end of October. Having a second cooler on hand to store the potatoes at 55 degrees was crucial in maintaining a high quality product. For the long term storage potatoes, that temperature was gradually decreased starting at around 3 weeks to their standard cooler temperature of about 34-36 degrees. The potatoes were all harvested into burlap sacks but did not store as well as they had hoped in the bags. They eventually pulled the potatoes from all of the bags and put them in bulb crates to increase air circulation. The amount of rot decreased dramatically after the change. In 2018, they plan to store all of the potatoes in bulb crates. Presque Isle Farm’s final yield for 2017 was 4,480 lbs,  averaging about 9.95 lbs yield per 1 lbs seed. Considering they sold much of the harvest as early potatoes and chose to harvest before potatoes became too large, this is a satisfactory yield. If they also consider a roughly 3% cull for damaged or rotting potatoes, that takes the actual yield to approximately 4,346 lbs of sellable product. The gross income from this planting was $5,383 or an average of  $1.24/lb. Their pricing over the season varied from $0.75/lb at farmers markets to $2.50/lb to chefs. With a plan to make no less than $1.50/lb on all potatoes, two things need to be considered in the coming season. Either the actual cull rate was much higher when packaging potatoes for sale, or the selling of potatoes at the farmers markets in bags and quarts that were not precisely weighed was not actually meeting the planned price point. These considerations will be addressed in the coming season.

In 2018, Presque Isle Farm planted approximately ⅓ of an acre, the same amount that they planted in 2017. Compost and fertilizer/amendment were applied prior to planting at the recommended rate. The potatoes were planted 12” apart in single rows, on 4’ centers. The rows were hilled three times throughout the season at 6”, 12”, and 18”. The hills were side dressed with 13-0-0 organic fertilizer prior to the third hilling. Starting in August, they began digging weekly and would only dig the current week’s needs. They finally dug all of the potatoes for storage at the end of October. potatoes were initially stored at 55 degrees to maintain a high quality product. For the long term storage potatoes, that temperature was gradually decreased starting at around 3 weeks to their standard cooler temperature of about 34-36 degrees. The potatoes were stored in bulb crates to increase air circulation which they learned in 2017 was crucial. They did not use burlap bags for long term storage as they had in 2017. Presque Isle Farm’s final yield for 2018 was 2,174 lbs, which was down from 4,346 lbs the previous year. This dramatically decreased year is attributed to the major lack of rain and the potatoes being in an area that was not irrigated. The gross income from the 2018 planting was $4,013, which is down from $5,383 from 2017. However, the 2017 planting averaged $1.24/lb while the 2018 planting averaged $1.84/lb. Based on 2017 sales per lb, their goal for 2018 was to sell at no less than $1.50/ lb on all potatoes.

In 2017, Green Gardens was able to reduce the amount of time weeding carrots with the use of its new 30” flame weeder. A total of 12,000 row feet of a combination of Bolero and Sugar Snax carrots were seeded three rows/30” bed at 15-20 seeds/ft on 7/8/17 and 7/22/17. Both plantings were flamed at 6 days post seeding on 7/14/17 and 7/28/17 with the 30” propane burner. The total time flaming for both plantings was less than 40 minutes since the flame weeder covered all three rows and the entire bed surface. Previously, the farm would have used a one row Red Dragon flame weeder that would have taken three times as long (120 minutes) and not performed as well since it didn’t cover the entire bed surface. Although the 2017 fall carrot patch didn’t face intense weed pressure, they believe that the ability of the 30” flame weeder to cover the entire bed probably cut hand cultivation at five weeks in half (over the Red Dragon) to 12 person-hours. Marketable yields were very good with an estimated 10,800 lbs of Bolero carrots and 1,400 bunches of Sugar Snax carrots harvested. An estimated 1,600 lbs of Bolero carrots was overwintered from 7/28/17 planting in the field due to a shortage of cooler space, lack of time, and desire to conduct an experiment. Unfortunately, the marketable yield was reduced overall by about 10% on the Bolero carrots from rodent damage at the top of the carrot root. Rodent traps will be set in carrots in 2018.

In 2018, Green Gardens was able to further reduce the amount of time weeding carrots. A total of 10,800 row feet of Bolero carrots were seeded three rows/30” bed at 15-20 seeds/ft on 7/11/18 and flame weeded on 7/17/18. The total time flaming was less than 40 minutes since the flame weeder covered all three rows and the entire bed surface. In addition to the flame weeding the 2018 carrot planting was wheel hoed one time (2 hours) and hand hoed one time (4 hours). Carrots were harvested in late October and early November. Marketable yields were very good at over 12,000 lbs of Bolero carrots harvested for 2018. That is more than 1 lb/row foot which is in increase over already good yields in 2017.

The 30” flame weeder worked equally well on Green Gardens 2017 Fall beet crop, which they aim to manage in a similar way as the carrots. A total of 10,440 row feet of Red Ace beets were seeded on 7/8/17 and 7/22/17. An additional 840 row feet of Chiogga and Boldero beets were also seeded on 7/22/17. All beets were flamed with the 30” flame weeder on 7/14/17 and 7/28/17, six days post seeding (just like the carrots). Time flaming was reduced by 66% compared to previous Red Dragon flamer, and they believe that the full bed flaming capability of the 36” flamer cut the hand weeding at five weeks by 50% (just like the carrots) to 12 person-hours. Yield was very good on the Red Ace plantings. They harvested an estimated marketable yield of 9,800 lbs and 300 bunches in November. Their wholesale price/lb for beets was $1.50. Marketable yield on Red Ace beets was reduced by about 3% due to rodent damage at root tips. Yield was zero on Chiogga and Boldero plantings due to poor germination. They are going to experiment with paperpot transplanting with Chiogga and Boldero beets in 2018.

In 2018, the 30” flame weeder worked well again on Green Gardens Fall beet crop. A total of 4,000 row feet of Red Ace beets were seeded on 7/8/18. Beets were not flamed in 2018 due to lack of time available, so weed pressure was somewhat higher than 2017. Marketable yield was very good on the Red Ace plantings. They harvested an estimated 3,000 lbs in November. Beets were smaller due to good germination and no thinning as the farm was targeting smaller size beets for their retail markets for 2018. Their price/lb for beets in 2018 was $1.50. Yield was zero on Chiogga and Boldero plantings again in 2018. While Green Gardens had intentions of using the paper pot planted for golden and Chioggia beets, they did not do so in 2018. They are determined to use the paper pot transplanter in 2019 for the golden and chioggia beets.

Green Gardens also purchased and implemented a basket weeding system for the 2018 product year. This equipment was intended to be used for between row weeds in carrots. However, the between-row spacing of their carrot planting and the learning curve associated with using the basket weeder in the small between-row spacing made it difficult to use the basket weeder without damaging the carrots. They will continue to improve their ability to cultivate using the basket weeder and adjust their carrot spacing to better utilize this equipment. They also used the basket weeder on brassica crops and reduced weeds that needed to be weeded with a hoe by 80%. They used this equipment on multiple brassica crops two weeks after transplanting. They found that it did a wonderful job reducing the weeds between the rows. They still had to weed with hoes in the row but that time was greatly decreased. They were also able to use this piece of equipment to mark rows for planting so that the rows were the correct distance apart to use this equipment without damaging crops. Challenges with the basket weeder were that there was a small window to use it in and if it was missed the weeds became too large to use the basket weeder on. Additionally, soil conditions must be right for it to work properly.  

In 2017, Green Gardens’ new barrel washer helped the farm process potatoes, beets, and carrots faster, more ergonomically, and do a higher quality job than its previous system. They harvested approximately 3,000 lbs Butterball and French Fingerling Potatoes, 10,800 lbs Bolero carrots and 9,800 lbs Red Ace beets in November of 2017. Carrots and beets were harvested into Rubbermaid totes or plastic garbage bags. Potatoes were harvested into black bulb crates. All crops were kept in the coolers until they were sold or unmarketable. Rates for washing were estimated at 200 lbs/hr for potatoes, 300 lbs/hour for carrots and 400-450 lbs/hour for beets with one person. The rate for carrots would be that of beets were it not for some added sorting time due to rodent damage. Their previous system involved washing with a hose and a black crate on a table. They believe the barrel washer to be at least 25-50% faster for these crops. The roots come out of the barrel washer cleaner than hand washing (which enhances marketability). The barrel washer also improved employee safety and satisfaction. The washer is easy on the body (you just dump them in and let the washer do the work!) and the job is more enjoyable than hand washing.

In 2018, Green Gardens’ again harvested carrots and beets into Rubbermaid totes or plastic garbage bags. Potatoes were harvested into black bulb crates. All crops were kept in the coolers until they were sold. Rates for washing for 2018 are estimated at 200 lbs/hr for potatoes, 400 lbs/hour for carrots, 400-450 lbs/hour for beets, and 200 lbs/hour for radishes and sun chokes with one person. For 2018 they made some modification to the barrel washer that allowed them to better use it. These included building a protective cover for the gearbox because a lot of soil was washing into the gears, making the grease zeros more accessible, and changes to allow the unit to drain better.