Farmer's Eye View

By Linda Halley, Farm Manager, Gardens of Eagan (GOE)

July 15, 2011

There's a totally new crop being grown by Gardens of Eagan this year with the help of its partner, Organic Field School: we're growing farmers and their businesses.

In the winter of 2010, Mike Leck and I had an idea while we wrestled with crop plans for 2011. GOE broccoli is in high demand every year but already takes up one-fifth of our vegetable crop acreage. The idea hit us: why not train other farmers to successfully grow GOE-style broccoli?

Gardens of Eagan pioneered warm-season broccoli production, creating the gold standard of big, sweet, domed heads packed in ice, ready for market from June to November. Most local farmers struggled with quality and flavor until the cooler weather set in, but GOE researched and experimented with fertility, irrigation, pest control and variety until they increased the success rate of broccoli crops to the point that all the Twin City co-ops were clamoring for it in early summer. And that's when the trouble began. Never was there enough of that gorgeous broccoli to meet demand!

So, why not just grow more at GOE?

"There's a limit to how much of any single crop a good organic farmer can grow," says Mike Leck, who's in charge of growing and transplanting the thousands of broccoli plants each year. "In organic systems the fields are rotated with different crop families each year to break pest cycles. We are trying to increase crop diversity, not move toward mono-cropping."

While Mike and I won't claim credit for much more than having the idea, we are actively helping three farmers in what we call the "Satellite Farms Project" shorten the learning curve to grow those big, sweet heads. We share our production schedule, and train them in harvesting and grading. The three farmers bring a willingness to apply the methods, a commitment to improve their post harvest handling, and, of course, their own skills as experienced, good farmers.

Two important partners in the Satellite Farms Project are Co-op Partners Warehouse (CPW) and the USDA SARE program. CPW buyers agreed to purchase all of the Satellite Farms Project broccoli that meets the high standards set by GOE at a guaranteed fair price. This is a major factor in reducing the risk assumed by the three farmers. The SARE program is helping the farmers defray some additional expenses they will incur scaling up and improving their infrastructure to meet the rigors of the wholesale marketplace.

The constant rain and erratic temperatures this spring proved challenging for the first plantings but now all Satellite Farmers and Gardens of Eagan are regularly delivering broccoli to CPW. It's our hope that the three farms' production will close the gap in local demand and all the farmers and all the shoppers will live happily ever after.*

*With farming, there's never a fairy tale ending. Rodrigo Cala, of Cala Farmes Origenes, is still trying to work out transportation from his Turtle Lake acreage. Aaron Blythe, of Big River Farms, has already outgrown his ice machine. Chris Blanchard, Rock Spring Farm, will need to invest in more greenhouse flats for next spring's transplants. And so it goes.