By Earl Hunsinger
Farming is one of the oldest, and one of the most thankless, occupations. In recent years the plight of farmers has frequently been in the news. How often have we read about farmers plowing their crops under or even losing a farm that has been in their family for generations because of changes in the market or bad weather? With the uncertainties and hardships faced by today's farmer, it's amazing that there are any farmers left. This is sad when you consider that farming is, and has always been, one of the most important occupations in the world. In a pinch, we could do without most other occupations; some we would hardly miss. But without someone to grow the food that we eat on a daily basis, we would quickly be in trouble.
Some farmers are finding new and innovative ways to make ends meet, thinking out of the box, so to speak. One way of doing this is the production of crops that are traditionally unavailable locally, or at least unavailable in the winter. For example, some farmers in the southeastern United States reasoned that no one would be able to turn down a fresh strawberry in the middle of winter. They were right. Using greenhouses and various growing systems, several farmers in North Carolina are now successfully growing and selling strawberries in the winter. In the same way, farmers in New York are growing raspberries in greenhouses during the winter. Compared to crops like tomatoes or cucumbers, raspberries can be grown at relatively cool temperatures without the need for supplemental light. And because they are fresher than berries flown in from the Southern Hemisphere, the quality is superior, which means that people are willing to pay enough to make their production worthwhile.
Other crops that are being commercially grown in greenhouses include muskmelons, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, and various kinds of herbs.
Growing mushrooms is another niche market for farmers. As the market for mushrooms continues to grow, more and more farmers see their cultivation as an opportunity to add another source of revenue. Since organic wastes can be used as a growing medium, this is also a way to get some value out of such waste materials. Mushroom farming is one of the best examples of thinking outside the box because the needs of mushrooms are quite a bit different than those of more traditional crops. For example, unlike green crops, they don't use photosynthesis, so sunlight is unnecessary. This means that a mushroom farm may not look like a farm at all. The biggest grower of mushrooms in the United States is located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Rather than plow open fields on this 220-acre farm, the cash crop is grown in chilly dark buildings. Inside these buildings, portabella, shiitake, enoki, maitake, and other fancy fungi sprout in sterile bottles, on homemade sawdust logs, and in wooden compost beds. Even compared to other mushroom farms, this farm is an example of the kind of thinking needed by the non-traditional farmer. It's a second-generation farm owned by Don and Marshall Phillips. From the start, Phillips Mushroom Farms was unconventional. When their father, William Phillips, started growing white button mushrooms in 1927, they were considered a wintertime-only crop. In 1939, he decided that with some big blocks of ice and a few fans, he could grow them in the muggy summer. In 1979, his sons followed his adventurous example, becoming the first U.S. commercial shiitake growers. Six years later, they began to grow portabellas. They now produce 35 million pounds of various kinds of mushrooms every year.
According to some experts, there are thousands of niche markets available to farmers. These range from commercial elk and alligator farms to heirloom fruit and vanilla orchid growers. There are many factors pushing the development of these markets, including the rising transportation costs for importing crops and a growing demand by consumers for locally grown and organic products. The result is that growers are increasingly venturing into these markets. Many of these farmers are just trying to save the family farm. Others are looking for a lifestyle change, such as the many third and fourth generation tobacco farmers who have switched to other crops because of health and environmental concerns.
What they all have in common is the imagination and willingness to look at things in a new way, to think outside the box, coupled with the courage, dedication, and intelligence needed to try something new and make it work.
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