Orange cauliflower and red carrots can serve up conversations at supper parties but they also offer opportunities for growers looking to diversify.
Paul Banks of Stokes Seeds Ltd. detailed the latest trends in vegetables for delegates attending the Saskatchewan Greenhouse and Vegetable Growers conference in Saskatoon Nov. 10-12.
He cited small, high-end market niches for novelty vegetables like the new colours of carrots and cauliflower or grape-sized tomatoes.
Other trends include hot and jalapeno peppers and Thai basil, growing in popularity as Canada becomes more multicultural and cosmopolitan.
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“That’s how growers get out of the mainstream and command a better dollar,” he said.
Banks said growing the newer vegetable varieties can supplement the supplies of traditional markets for staple vegetables while satisfying the public’s quest to try something new.
Market gardener Joan Merrill of Robertson Valley Farms near Saskatoon said growers need to have patience with new varieties while waiting for people to discover them.
“If you have faith in your product, your customer will buy in,” she said.
“A lot are looking for food that looks good on the plate, not just for nutritive value,” said the grower, who offers 40 different crop choices.
Merrill found orange cauliflower a strong seller that was well received. It also grows well in Saskatchewan’s sunny climate and longer daylight hours.
Growers must be knowledgeable about the new plants and their assets and share that information with buyers, she said.
Such contact between growers and consumers is on the upswing, said Connie Achtymichuk, vegetable specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture.
She cited a shift toward buying food at farmer’s markets and from growers farming within a 160 kilometre radius of where consumers live.
As the population ages, fewer people are growing their own vegetables, but many still wish to buy them to make traditional favourites like cabbage rolls or pickles.
“We still like to pickle, but our city yards are not big enough to grow them,” she said.
Shawn Hansen, president of the Saskatchewan Vegetable Growers Association, would like to see a greater promotion of Saskatchewan grown produce and an increased presence for it in the grocery stores.
The operator of Craven Riverside Gardens, which sells potatoes and cabbages wholesale, said there is a movement afoot in which larger commercial retailers put Saskatchewan growers’ labels on produce.
“They want to put our name on it so consumers can see the local guy,” he said.
Retailers are also moving to new sizes of vegetables to differentiate themselves.
