Are You Judging a Fruit (or a Veggie) by its Cover?

When it comes to great tasting fruits and vegetables, you definitely cannot judge a book by its cover. But if some of the best tasting produce is less than perfect on the outside, why do consumers insist on buying only the most aesthetically pleasing?

This question is even more perplexing when you consider that more and more agricultural experts are telling us that the most beautiful fruits and vegetables aren’t always the healthiest or best tasting. In fact, in most cases, the only advantage of such produce is its ability to sell quickly.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, approximately six billion pounds – or 20 percent – of produce that is grown in the United States is thrown away each year because of its appearance.

So who is to blame for this search for the perfect fruit or vegetable? There’s plenty to go around. First, the USDA stipulates that commercially grown fruits and vegetables must be 90 percent blemish-free. Next, marketers are always on the lookout to photograph only the most aesthetically-pleasing fruits. These camera-ready specimens are hard for the average piece of produce to live up to and set an unrealistically high standard for fruits and vegetables. Finally, a large portion of the blame must be put on consumers.

When shopping for produce, most consumers select food based on how it looks rather than how it smells or how it will taste. This means that many fruits and vegetables are rejected solely on appearance rather than on taste, quality, or ripeness.

Thankfully, there is a new trend toward average-looking fruits and vegetables. Experts are pushing the message that perfect on the outside doesn’t necessary mean better tasting. In fact, pull an apple straight off a tree and it might not look perfect but it sure tastes that way!

There are several companies working to minimize waste by delivering less than perfect fruit directly to consumers. Farmers and consumers can both benefit from doing business this way. Farmers will be able to sell crops that would normally be bound for the landfill and consumers will be able to purchase produce for much less than they would pay in the grocery store – without sacrificing quality or taste. Across the country, farmers list these types of transactions as something they are very interested in pursuing.

Selling less than perfect-looking produce to restaurants is another untapped market. After all, diners don’t care how round a tomato is before it is baked into a lasagna. They only care how it tastes. And as anyone who is willing to take a bite out of an imperfect piece of produce will tell you, it doesn’t have to look perfect to taste that way.

 

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Raising Pigs can be a Profitable Endeavor

October is National Pork Month so what better time to talk about how raising pigs can be a profitable business venture?

While pig farming is not particularly difficult, it is time consuming and takes a lot of energy. If you are considering adding pigs to your farming operation, or are contemplating raising pigs exclusively, it is important that you know exactly what is involved in raising pigs.

There are two ways to raise pigs: pasturing pigs or raising them in a barn. Pasturing pigs is a viable option as long as you have enough land and that land is soil and grass rich. It also will be necessary to fence in your pigs to prevent them from wandering too far afield. Young pigs need to be fenced in even smaller areas because they need to remain close to food and water.

While pigs rarely set out to destroy fencing, adult pigs are very strong and can do damage without trying very hard. When building a fence for your pigs, make sure that you use strong wood or other fencing material and that you dig the poles deep into the ground since pigs like to dig. As a general rule, every pig should have about one-tenth of an acre of pasture.

Raising pigs in a barn has its advantages. Cleaning up after pigs raised in a barn is relatively simple; you can better control what the pigs consume; and a barn provides much-needed shade for pigs.

Your pig barn should be divided into two areas. As a general rule the feeding area should be about 10 feet by 10 feet for every two pigs and the resting area should be about half that size, or five feet by five feet. The best pig barns are concrete and have a sloped floor so that when you use a hose to clean the barn the water will drain away easily.

If you are committed to raising pigs, experienced pig farmers list the following helpful hints to help make sure that your endeavor is both profitable and enjoyable:

  • Bigger and meatier pigs bring in the most money. Make sure your pigs get the correct amount of nutrients but try to avoid supplements. If you are grazing your pigs, make sure there is plenty of pasture grass available.
  • Never feed your pigs potatoes or raw meat – both can be toxic to these animals. While pigs will eat almost anything, that doesn’t mean that they should.
  • Control the amount of food your pigs consume. If your pigs are trough-fed, it is important that there is no food left in the trough after 30 minutes. If there is, you are overfeeding. This is not only bad for your pigs, you will waste money in food costs.
  • Plenty of fresh water is essential to healthy pigs. Keep in mind that pigs like to clean themselves in water so make sure you clean their water troughs regularly.

Pork is one of the most widely eaten foods throughout the world so it’s no surprise that raising these animals can be an extremely satisfying endeavor.

Farm Safety Sensitive Topic for Many Farmers

No one would argue that workplace safety is not an important issue. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) exists soley to keep our nation’s workers safe. Established in 1970, OSHA reports that since its inception, workplace fatalities have decreased 62 percent while the number of U.S. workers has almost doubled in the same time period.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that farming is one of the deadliest professions in the United States, the majority of farms – those with 10 or fewer employees – are not regulated by OSHA. So why are these farms not covered by OSHA rules and regulations?

One reason may be the independent nature of farmers themselves. When OSHA made a move to regulate grain bins, farmers and their representatives were outraged and successfully fought the move.

Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) said at the time that farmers know better than bureaucrats how to keep their employees and families safe. The outcry against the move led OSHA to relent with no further inspections or enforcement actions pending in regard to small farms.

While farmers list several reasons why they don’t want to be regulated by OSHA, that doesn’t mean they are unaware of the dangers they face on the farm. How could they not be when every year thousands of farm workers are injured or die as the result of farm accidents?

Tractors are the greatest danger on the farm, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, claiming approximately 125 lives a year. Other pieces of machinery pose risks to farmers, including combines and hay balers. Grain bins and silos pose significant dangers, as well. Other farm hazards include heatstroke, large livestock, and exposure to chemicals.

According to OSHA, farm workers under the age of 15 and over the age of 65 are at the greatest risk of being injured or killed in a farm accident. Also contributing to fatalities is the fact that hospital and emergency rooms are in most cases a long way from rural areas.

But most farmers look at the dangers they face on the farm in the same way they look at the weather. You can’t control everything. They also believe that it is their job to keep themselves safe and they don’t like people – especially in Washington – telling them how to do that. And perhaps with so many farmers working alongside their parents and children, they consider it an insult that anyone would imply that they don’t care about safety.

Finally, most farmers farm because they like the freedom it offers. And in their minds, this freedom includes the ability to do their job without anyone breathing down their necks.

On Many Farms, the Future has Already Arrived

Imagine meeting a farmer with 12,000 acres of crops who rarely spends time on his tractor. Just a few years ago that would have been unheard of. Today, it’s just another day on the farm.

According to Jeremy Jack, a farmer in Mississippi, gathering and utilizing data and technology is the only way farmers will be able to meet the challenge of feeding the world in the future. While many people agree, they are surprised to learn that such methods are being used right now on a number of farms. That’s because farming technology such as self-driving tractors don’t get a lot of media attention.

In his article To Feed Billions, Farms Are About Data as Much as Dirt, author Christopher Mims reports he also was surprised by what is happening on many farms today.

The cab of one of these self-driving tractors is now so full of screens and tablets that it has come to resemble the cockpit of a passenger jet—an accurate comparison in more ways than one, since perhaps only the airline industry can match farming in the degree to which its vehicles have become automated.

In fact, many tractor manufacturers today have thousands of software writers on staff.

 The result is that [farm equipment manufacturers] aren’t just turning out tractors, combines and trucks that can drive themselves and even each other, automatically coalescing into tight    formations as they cross a farmer’s field, like fighter jets at an air show, they are also turning out wirelessly connected sensors that map every field, as well as planting and spraying machines that can variably apply seed and nutrients to a field, as if they were 20-ton print heads for 3D printers.

While this may shock a lot of people, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If farmers are going to feed 10 billion people on perhaps less land and with fewer resources than they have now, they will need to be well prepared. And as is usually the case with farmers, they are prepared sooner rather than later.

Another Summer Ends with a Slight Decline in the Popularity of Farmers Markets

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the farmers market boom over the past decade may be slowing down – just a bit. The USDA also reports that food sales at local farm stands, markets, and other similar venues are also waning.

The USDA reported in January that food sales at farmers markets dropped one percent from 2007 to 2012 after increasing between 32 to 37 percent from 1997 to 2006. And while the number of farmers markets continues to grow, that growth has slowed down considerably in the past two years, increasing by only two percent.

Despite this trend, the number of farmers selling directly to consumers continues to rise. What’s more, this slight downturn in the popularity of farmers markets may actually be a good thing for farmers. Consumers and farmers list the following upsides to the slowing of the skyrocketing popularity of farmers markets:

  1. Farmers markets aren’t particularly cost-effective. Farmers markets offer slim profit margins, especially when you consider the work it takes to prepare for them. Plus, most farmers would rather be farming, not necessarily marketing their food.
  2. Farmers can make more money when they sell their food directly to schools, grocery stores, or co-ops. This is a win-win situation because it means people still want locally-grown food but are willing to look for it in places other than just farmers markets.
  3. Buying local at bigger stores is now an option for consumers. While everyone would love to buy fresh local food straight from the farm, times are tight. That means many consumers simply can’t afford to pay the premium prices that some farmers markets charge. Whether or not it is true, people perceive that grocery store food is cheaper. Now they are able to get local food at grocery store prices.

As is the case with everything to do with farming, ingenuity is key. Therefore, while farmers markets continue to be popular, most farmers realize that they need to sell their goods in a variety of ways. That means selling delicious, healthy foods to co-ops, big grocery store chains, schools, and, of course, to community members at the local farmers market.