Specialty Crops - Variety

I think an overlooked aspect of encouraging Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables is marketing efficiency in relation to the supply chain.

If marketing efficiency improves; 1) there will be increased availability, 2) prices will be reasonable, 3) growers will be encouraged to innovate with new products.

Part of my USDA ARS work involved interviews with farmers in Maine. In one case, an organic farmer was growing more than 50 different products on a relatively small parcel of land. It was clear that this was too much variety! Though this helped to spread financial risk, the wide variety made operations very difficult indeed.

I believe that supply chain innovations will allow growers to determine the proper amount of variety in relation to risk and the needs of the marketplace.

Better price signals almost always lead to innovation!