Ginger - Innovations Newsletter

An ancient crop in the new world

Melissa Bahret of Old Friends Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts saw that her greenhouse was sitting idle in the late spring and summer, after her vegetable starts were in the ground or sold to customers. She and business partner, Casey Steinberg, were looking for new ways to use the space and to complement the flowers, salad greens, garlic, and shiitake mushrooms raised and sold at farmers' markets, restaurants, to florists, and for weddings.

They settled on trying ginger because it was not available locally, was in high demand as a kitchen staple, and commanded a good price. Better still, the transportation costs were nil when compared to ginger flown in from far away--this appealed to them and to their customer base. Bahrat got a 2006 Farmer Grant to study this new crop, and then a second award in 2007 to refine its cultivation.

Her high-quality organic mother roots came from Biker Dude Organic Ginger Farm in Pahoa, Hawaii, and harvest began 152 days after planting--roughly the end of August--and continued for six weeks. She harvested plants in the young-stalk stage, not the mature root; in this stage ginger is white with pinkish streaks, tender in comparison to mature roots, and can be used in teas and soups much like lemongrass. Young ginger also offers more saleable components, so little is wasted. The ginger sold for $20 a pound at the market, and in the first year they produced 209 pounds and made $4,180.

During that first season, they also offered tours that attracted 40 people; one of them was Elizabeth Schwab, a food writer for the Boston Globe, who then did a story on their new ginger endeavor. After the second year of funding, Bahret and Steinberg also wrote an article for Growing for Market called "Spice it up! Grow Ginger!", where they shared the cultivation details.

While the investment of $6,391 was more than income during the first year, the increase in new customers was priceless. But for the crop to be viable, they had to find ways to reduce costs, so they spent the second Farmer Grant comparing the greenhouse system to an in-ground hoop house practice.

"Using high tunnels was a drastic profit improvement over growing in the greenhouse," Bahret says. In fact, the greenhouse ginger lost money while the hoop house ginger earned almost $3,000 in income over expenses, mostly because of differences in heat and labor. In the unheated high tunnel, Bahret says, "we prepare the soil beds just like preparing for potatoes."

Though still learning about the best ginger cultivation practices, the Old Friends Farm owners continue to plant a crop each year: "People love the ginger," says Bahret, and customers are willing to pay extra for it: "It's a much higher grade than typical store ginger," she says, adding that they are still working on streamlining their production methods to increase profits.

"SARE helped us curb the costs of trying out an initial idea, which was really helpful for this endeavor," she says. "Many people still call responding to the SARE article, although some of the methods we used then we don't use now. We'll be creating a Northeast Ginger Growers website group this winter for more active sharing of ideas and information."

To learn more about this Farmer Grant, search the SARE online database for FNE06-564 and FNE07-596. You can also go to www.oldfriendsfarm.com.

--Carol Delaney