Hot Markets for Vegetables

Community Project Develops Hot Markets for Vegetables

Growers raising Hayman sweet potatoes on Virginia's Eastern Shore process what they can't sell fresh into chips to add value to an increasingly valuable product.

Farmers on Virginia's Eastern Shore are capturing premium prices for heritage sweet potatoes and other vegetables thanks to marketing strategies developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy's Virginia Coast Reserve. TNC, which received a SARE grant to help revive the largely low-income community through new farming ventures, partnered with Virginia Tech University and state extension educators to demonstrate better production and harvesting methods for Hayman sweet potatoes, among other crops. Test-marketing for the unusually sweet-tasting potato, a traditional Eastern Shore crop that can be grown only in certain microclimates, proved wildly successful among regional grocery stores and restaurants in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. When the project began, one grower grew Eastern Shore Select ™ Hayman sweet potatoes on 5 acres; by 1999, nine growers were harvesting potatoes on 55 acres. In 1999, approximate retail sales totalled $82,000. Farmers, who can not grow enough to meet demand, are continuing to look at better harvesting methods for a potato that bruises easily and offers small yields. A promising value-adding option is processing potato 'seconds' into chips. The project also examined different varieties of broccoli that Virginia farmers can grow in the heat of August, tested marketing options for seedless watermelons and helped the Bayview community kick off a community garden for 30 people. The garden is expanding into a community supported agriculture operation to meet a growing demand for fresh produce. For more information, go to www.sare.org/projects/ and search for LS96-080

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