i3O-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 15,2001
a;
Success With New Commodities Promising For Ohio Farmers
PIKETON, Ohio - Several spe
cialty crops being studied by
Ohio State University researchers
may prove to be promising new
commodities for Ohio farmers.
Specialty types of sweet potato,
Asian eggplant and bitter melon
are the focus of horticulturist
Matt Klein
henz, plant pathologist Sally
Miller, project research assistant
Myranda rout, and horticulturist
Brad Bergefurd of OSU Exten
sion. Last year, they identified
opportunities and challenges in
growing and marketing the spe
cialty crops, and are continuing
that work this year.
“Last year was rewarding and
challenging,” said Fout. “We ran
into obstacles, many of which we
eventually solved. We also estab
lished a good process for compre
hensively evaluating these com
modities.”
Kleinhenz, project coordinator,
also looks at last year as a valu
able learning experience. “We
learned a tremendous amount
about the growing and selling of
these commodities. That’s the
point of the project,” he said.
“We assume the risk of learning
mostly so farmers don’t have to
and then transfer that informa
tion to
NO-TUI a'nd
„ „ others.
Conference
Jan. 9-12
STATE COLLEGE
(Centre Co.) The
Mid-Atlantic No-Till
Conference is coordinat
ing bus transportation
to the 10th annual Na
tional No-Tillage Con
ference Jan. 9-12 in St.
Louis, Mo.
Round-trip bus trans
portation costs SBS per
person. Check must be
received by Dec. 29,
2001.
Details about confer
ence look at the exten
sive program online at
www.lesspub.com/nntc.
An educational pro
gram especially for
spouses is offered.
On Wednesday, Jan.
9, the bus will leave
State College at 6 a.m.
and 8 a.m. from Bed
ford. On Saturday, Jan.
12, the bus will leave St.
Louis at 12:15 p.m. to
return to Pennsylvania.
Conference registra
tion (includes a ticket to
the Friday luncheon
and Friday night ban
quet): if you participate
in this trip, you will re
ceive a $5O discount for
being part of the Mid-
Atlantic No-Till Group.
Your registration fee
will be $144 to be paid
at the door. Lodging is
available at the confer
ence location, Millenni
um Hotel St. Louis,
(800) 222-8888. Reser
vations for three nights
will be needed, Jan.
9-11, 2002. Room rate is
$B9, single or double oc
cupancy. For guaran
teed rate and space
availability, make reser
vations before Dec. 17.
Please make your bus
reservations by sending
your check made pay
able to the “Mid-Atlan
tic No-Till Conference”
to the York County Co
operative Extension
Service by Dec. 28 to
Mark Goodson, York
County Cooperative Ex
tension, 112 Pleasant
Acres Road, York, PA
17402-9041. For more
information, call Joel
Myers at work (717)
237-2220 or at home
We’re applying last year’s in
formation to this year’s research.
What we leam, farmers can ben
efit from.”
This year’s work wraps up the
two-year study, funded through
an Ohio Agricultural Research
and Development Center “New
Enterprise Grant.” The goal of
the project is to help Ohio grow
ers respond to farming-related
challenges and opportunities.
For example, Ohio’s popula
tion is nearly 12 million and
growing, prompting some to
think that farming will become
less important in Ohio. “Ridicu
lous,” said Kleinhenz. “The 12
million people in Ohio and mil
lions of others in neighboring
states need to eat. Many consum
ers may demand a fresh supply
of locally, and perhaps organical
ly, grown commodities often not
round in most supermarkets. If
demand is real and the crops can
be grown here, Ohio farmers
have additional opportunities.”
Asian eggplant, bitter melon,
and specialty sweet potatoes may
have a niche in Ohio for a num
ber of reasons: the crops appear
adapted to the state’s warm,
humid climate; they appear toler
ant or resistant to most pests and
diseases; and market outlets may
be as near as the next town or
city. Asian eggplant and bitter
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melon, in particular, are used in
Asian, Indian, or Mediterranean
dishes that anyone can enjoy.
Sweet potatoes without the ordi
nary skin and flesh colors also at
tract attention. “We have pink
fleshed sweet potatoes,” said
Fout.
Keep in mind, emphasize the
researchers, that people often buy
first with their eyes and later
based on other qualities. Indeed,
one of the difficulties the re
searchers encountered last year
was the size of the sweet pota
toes. “Last year’s yield was less
than we hoped for, mainly be
cause we planted the crop late.
We got a lot of small potatoes,”
said Kleinhenz. “But this year’s
Elants are two to three times
urger right now than they were
all last year. And we decided to
plant them on plastic which has
done wonders for the plants and
our ability to manage weeds.”
The eggplants are being grown
using conventional and organic
methods and the sweet potatoes
are being grown organically.
Kleinhenz said the researchers
ran into common fertility and
weed management problems with
last year’s organically grown
crops, which they rectified this
year by using plastic and vermi
compost. “Plastic limits weed
growth, conserves soil moisture,
and warms the soil,” he said.
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The researchers are growing
two varieties of bitter melon, 12
varieties of Asian eggplant, and
nine varieties of sweet potato.
“The two varieties of bitter
melon, Kiew Yoke and Bitter
Long, were popular last year,”
said Fout. “Kiew Yoke was most
popular because it’s the fat, me
dium-length, light-colored fruit
that many buyers tend to look
for.”
Eggplants are cultivated by
numerous cultures throughout
the world and it seems that near
fruit color and tex
ture. The long, slender, nearly
black-skinned fruit of Orient Ex
press and Ichiban varieties may
appeal to some, while the bul
bous, milk-white fruit of Snowy
appeals to others. Additional
combinations of characteristics
create an eggplant to suit any cu
linary interest.
Bitter melon, a vegetable
grown extensively in South
America, East Africa and Asia, is
touted for its nutritional value,
having twice the potassium as ba
nanas, twice the beta carotene as
broccoli and twice the calcium as
spinach. It is also thought to have
anti-diabetic and anti-leukemic
properties. But the crop lives up
to its name. All parts of the plant,
including the fruit, taste very bit
ter.
A*
«• * *
* V h~ i ~
“These commodities are un
usual but they may represent an
opportunity for farmers to estab
lish identities in the market
place,” said Kleinhenz. “Our role
is to test their biological adapta
tion in Ohio and provide basic
market-related information.”
Last year’s harvest was provided
to stores, farm markets, and res
taurants throughout Ohio, specif
ically in Columbus, Cincinnati
and Cleveland, for evaluation by
consumers, produce buyers and
chefs.
Transplants given to grower
cooperators also gave farmers an
opportunity to gam first-hand ex
perience with the crops. “Work
ing with grower-cooperators is
one of the most important as
pects of our work,” said Fout.
“Some are excited and others re
ally don’t know what to make of
some of these commodities.”
But Fout sees growing interest
in specialty crops. “The tobacco
market is decreasing. Specialty
crops are providing farmers with
alternative sources of income,”
she said, adding that the crops
have had success under organic
and conventional growing meth
ods. “Smaller acreage farms are
increasing. This fits well with
growing specialty crops.” Re
searchers are currently working
with fanners in 10 counties
across Ohio.
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