Development of Ethnic - Specialty Vegetable Production - Marketing Resources

Development of Ethnic - Specialty Vegetable Production - Marketing Resources

Summary

Ethnic populations, soon to be one-third of the U.S. population, rely on fresh produce as staples in their diets. Local concentration of many ethnic groups has created large potential markets for Northeast growers. Increasingly, farmers are asking how to produce these new crops to meet the demand. The PI’s are compiling several years of research data on production and marketing of specialty and ethnic crops into an online resource, and along with demonstration trials, will soon be ready to provide reliable production information. A professional development conference is planned for New York City to educate extension and industry personnel about the potential of ethnic and specialty produce markets.

Objectives/Performance Targets

• Performance Target 1: Seventy-five vegetable production and marketing educators in the Northeast all will subscribe to the veg-prod internet discussion group.

  Fifteen additional subscribers were added to the veg-prod in 2003. The 45 subscribers who responded to initial discussions of plans for the associated In-service Training Conference on Production and Marketing of Ethnic Vegetables have been identified and kept informed of progress of the project.

  Performance Target 2: Of the 75 vegetable workers discussing specialty/ethnic vegetable production and marketing on the veg-prod listserv, observing initial demonstrations, and making use of the resources of this project, 20 will establish working demonstration plots of specific crops and their production strategies useful to their local clientele.

  Screening demonstration trials and specific crop research/demonstration trials were conducted at 13 sites in 5 states in 2003 (see Accomplishments).

  Performance Target 3: Of 75 extension, USDA and other vegetable production and marketing officials throughout the Northeast, 50 will understand, accept, and advocate the production and marketing specialty/ethnic vegetables to farmers.

  In NY, MA and NJ alone, 35-40 extension and Dept. of Ag officials are working on various aspects of specialty/ethnic vegetable production and marketing outreach efforts. Similar programs have been established through direct and indirect contact by this project in MD and PA. Of the 45 inquiries for information about the In-Service Training Conference, less than 5 were from NY, MA or NJ.

Accomplishments/Milestones

• New York-Five demonstration trials: Four focused on production of specialty melons-2 at research stations and 2 on farm. Fifth trial with about 20 different specialty ethnic vegetables was conducted in the Hudson valley.

  Massechusetts-UMass research farm and commercial farm, three demonstration trials concentrating on 9 Brazilian crops.

  New Jersey-Continued demonstration trials of ethnic eggplant varieties; central Asian vegetables; Edamame soybeans; ethnic peppers; Calabaza squash; and Hierloom tomatoes.

  Maryland-Extension collaborators conducted specialty vegetable demonstration trials concentrating of African and Caribbean produce.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

NJ Extension and Dept. of Agriculture have established a multi-disciplinary team to pursue collaborative efforts to address emerging ethnic produce market opportunities

NJ Dept. Of Ag./NJAES was awarded $75,000 through Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program Grant (USDA) to analyze US Census data to discover and explore NJ’s ethnic communities and to find paths to connect NJ farmers with ethnic produce markets.
45 and 30 people attended the ‘Heritage Crops’ sessions at the 2003 and 2004 NJ Annual Vegetable Meetings in Atlantic City.

Extension educators and researchers, Dept. of Ag officials and farmers in three states were exposed to the types of crops that can be grown in the region to sell to emerging ethnic markets. Research and demonstration work was shared at the Mid-Atlantic Vegetable Workers Conference (November 2003) in Newark, DE.

There is growing interest in New York for Chinese cabbage, so more efforts will be directed toward that need.

75 people attended a grower meeting at the Umass Research Farm and a twilight meeting at a cooperator’s farm attracted about 15 people.

www.worldcrops.org has been launched and is available to anyone on the internet. It is considered a work in progress, but there is enough information currently up for people to get use out of it.

Collaborators: