What Crops and Why?
The last 15 years of farming are full of trials and errors, errors and trials, learning and growing and learning and… not growing. That’s a wordy way of saying, crops have come on and crops have gone off the farm plan for all kinds of reasons. The following are factors we consider when deciding if we’re going to grow a crop and if so how much we’ll plant of it.
One, do people like it? We use our trade zone of CSA pick-up each week as a mini member survey to see what you’re all leaving behind. A big pile of anything means it’s not likely to make the cut for next season, thus, the absence of mustard greens, celeriac, salsify and winter turnips in the shares this year. Can’t say we’re shedding any tears!
Two, is it profitable? This isn’t a huge factor when we plan our CSA harvests as we predominantly prioritize crops that are pleasing to your personal palettes and that contribute to a well-rounded and diversified farm share box. However, when choosing crops for the grocery stores, restaurants and food hub, this is THE consideration. We intentionally plant carrots, beets, chard, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage and brussels sprouts for these causes as they are ever popular and fetch good rates on a per bed basis, making them worth the lower wholesale prices.
Three, how much space does it take up? We don’t grow tons of potatoes or melons on our farm as they don’t yield well, are prone to pest damage, take up a lot of room, and don’t come anywhere close to penciling out.
Four, do we personally like growing and managing them? Nathaniel has a deep passion (to which I cannot relate) for growing corn and quinoa for seed, but I support it! And I have a newfound love for growing giant pumpkins and have serious plan to host a giant pumpkin regatta next year- stay tuned! These crops don’t make sense financially, but we grow them to keep ourselves enthused. Claire, Kevin and I must’ve checked on our big quirky pumpkin friends a couple times a week throughout the summer. We miss them!
It’s a delicate dance to weigh all these factors when working on the season’s plan, but it makes for lively conversations over coffee in the off season.