One fascinating thing about visiting Southwest Florida farms is seeing their distinctive seepage irrigation system. I had heard it described, but I didn’t really get it until I saw it in action.
Unique soils in Florida have allowed growers there to develop a an effective irrigation system that differs in many respects from what I have seen anywhere else. Sandy soils overlay a hardpan just below the maximum rooting zone. That situation allows lateral seepage of irrigation water over considerable distances with hardly any slope.
Main irrigation canals move water from water reserves in the abundant swampland to the fields. To irrigate a field, irrigation ditches are filled from those canals, then emptied when irrigation is done.
Irrigation water seeps sideways into the soil from the ditch. It reaches far enough that there are 12 beds between ditches. The water level is maintained precisely so that soil under the roots is wetted, but the roots are not drowned.
One of the significant advantages of this system is less disease. Because all the water stays underground, it is rarer for the foliage to be wet and the humidity, while naturally high, is lower. Thus the conditions for fungal spores to germinate and for hyphae to grow are considerably less common.
A couple other unique features make the system work. First, the land is very flat. Whole fields can be irrigated where the underground water table is maintained at an exact distance below the soil surface on the bed tops. In addition, field are interspersed with vast swamplands that serve as storage for irrigation water. Irrigation water can not only be drawn from these reservoirs, but it is also returned to them at the end of an irrigation cycle.
At the end of February, Project Director Thomas Björkman had a chance to visit Monica Ozores-Hampton’s trial site at the University of Florida’s Southwest Florida Research and Education Center and farmers in nearby Immokalee and Clewiston (between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades).
The SWFREC has seven new faculty, which really adds energy. Like elsewhere in Florida, managing citrus greening is a big priority.
Monica Ozores-Hampton and her SWREC colleagues using infrared imaging to track crop growth by recording individual plants through the season.
The research station has recovered from Hurricane Maria last fall, with some new greenhouse facilities replacing ones lost. The fields at the station are set up to use the distinctive seepage irrigation system common in parts of Florida that have sandy soils with a hardpan. The crop in the Yield Trial is growing well and should produce good results for spring. The February days were 85°, so warmer spring weather will definitely test the adaptation of these hybrids.
Monica Ozores-Hampton’s yield trial at the UF Southwest Florida Research and Extension Center in Immokalee, Florida. The trial is on a sandy soil using a seepage irrigation system. This February day began at a balmy 70°F, which suited the students on spring break in nearby Ft. Myers just fine. But that night temperature is too high for broccoli reaching the most sensitive stage of development (and for winter-hardened Thomas Björkman, pictured). The grassy field edge runs along an irrigation ditch. In the morning, alligators like to come out of the ditch to sun themselves on the grass.
Vegetable farms in SW Florida are generally larger than elsewhere in the East. The smallest farm we visited raises a thousand acres of green beans and sweet corn. The land costs are moderate, and the sandy soil can be managed with appropriately scaled equipment. At this scale, vegetables reach large-scale buyers through the most prominent of eastern produce distributors.
The farms we visited all know very well how to raise broccoli efficiently. The bed system means that the plant populations are lower per gross acre than solid stands. Nevertheless, the yields have been good, pests are uncommon, and the labor has been available for harvest.
The main limitation has been access to markets. The growers noted some irony in being unable to interest south Florida buyers in local broccoli, but finding buyers in New York appreciated getting winter broccoli from closer by. A good relationship between buyers and sellers appears to allow many efficiencies that improve product quality and reduce costs.
An individual grower may see price offers that seem inconsistent. While wholesale broccoli prices vary greatly among markets and with time, terminal market prices can provide a view into what is going on regionally.
The price has had a floor around $15 per box in recent years, with unpredictable spikes. Most eastern growers find $15 a break-even proposition and need a higher price to justify raising the crop. Selling continuously to catch the spikes is one way to obtain a higher average price.
Terminal market prices in the East. Mean value for all Eastern terminal markets for crown-cut broccoli. Source: USDA AMS Market News
In 2016, prices remained low throughout the year. It was a tough year to expand production. Fortunately, prices recovered in 2017.
Eastern Broccoli team-member Xiaoli Fan defended her PhD dissertation on July 24th. She is joining the faculty in Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology at the University of Alberta. Congratulations, Xiaoli!
As a graduate student in Applied Economics with Prof. Miguel Gómez at Cornell, she made big contributions to the project. First, studied seasonal effects on market efficiency of broccoli, finding that local production made the markets more efficient by reducing the likelihood of excess supply. Second, she
Xiaoli Fan (left) successfully defended her PhD on July 24, 2017. Her work on broccoli distribution channels will be continued by master’s student Carol Dong (middle), under Prof. Miguel Gómez (right) in the Dyson School at Cornell. Dr. Fan has taken a faculty position at the University of Alberta.
studied consumers’ willingness to pay for local broccoli in eastern markets finding that there is a price premium in markets where the “local” attribute is valued in general. Finally, she developed a model for finding the optimum location for cooling infrastructure that would serve multiple farms by optimizing the type of equipment to fit the scale of production, as well as the distance to farms and to markets.
Her work is the basis for current and forthcoming work with producers and food hubs. Some of that work will be done by our new team member, Carol Dong. Carol has been visiting growers and food hubs already to analyze systems and cost structures.
The last planting of the season is starting to head in Hastings, FL, a major winter-production region for Eastern broccoli. University of Florida Prof. Lincoln Zotarelli is running both Quality and Yield Trials in Hastings so adaptation to this production system is addressed Continue reading Spring broccoli in Hastings, Florida→
Producers Rebecca Davis and Matt Toder of NBC Universal visited our trial site in Geneva to film a segment for their new feature on The Future of Food. The future does look bright for broccoli! Thanks for making us part of the story.
NBC filmed a segment for The Future of Food at the Eastern Broccoli trial site at Cornell University’s NYSAES in Geneva NY. 16 Aug 16
The Eastern Broccoli Project was successful in its renewal application, so we are moving ahead for another five years. We were awarded two years of funding and approved for an additional three years. Thanks very much to all the collaborators who made this such a high-ranking application, and to the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crops Research Initiative for funding it.
As we ramp up activities during September, you will see more news on this blog.
The Eastern Broccoli breeding pipeline is producing some great advances. Here is an inbred line from Mark Farnham’s program photographed in the depth of the South Carolina summer. Exceptional adaptation to Eastern summers in an inbred broccoli from the US Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, SC. Photographed in mid-July 2016 following weeks of 90+ degree weather. Photo credit: Mark Farnham
In these growing conditions, existing varieties produce heads with significant distortion. Area growers currently don’t harvest until fall to beat the heat. This inbred can be the basis of an expanded production season.
This inbred is a candidate for a public release or protection by a Plant Variety Patent. It would be used as a parental line in a commercial hybrid variety to contribute unprecedented adaptation to the Eastern summer growing conditions. We are working with cooperating seed companies to that end.
That young children dislike broccoli is a commonly held assumption. Many parents know that is entirely untrue, as their small children gobble up the little trees with abandon. USDA offers consumption statistics that help inform this question. It turns out that young children, both boys and girls eat nearly as much broccoli among their vegetables as adults to. The drop occurs with teenagers, particularly boys. Young women start eating broccoli sooner than young men, but it becomes a larger part of their vegetable consumption as they get older. Broccoli consumption by age group. (Source USDA http://ers.usda.gov/data-products/commodity-consumption-by-population-characteristics.aspx)
The statistics also show the broccoli consumption is similar among low income, mid-income, and high income consumers. There are small differences in total vegetable consumption among income groups, but not enough to support the common impression that low income consumers are not getting vegetables.
Broccoli consumption is also consistent among weight categories. There is little difference among consumers who are healthy weight, overweight, or obese. Notably, obese children eat slightly more broccoli than their lighter counterparts.
Broccoli is a large share of cooking vegetables eBroccoli consumption by income level. Low,<185% of poverty line; High, >300% of poverty line.(Source http://ers.usda.gov/data-products/commodity-consumption-by-population-characteristics.aspx)ven though it constitutes only about 4% of total vegetable consumption. The majority of vegetable consumption (58%) constitutes tomatoes and potatoes, And much of the rest (26%) are salad vegetables. Cooking vegetables constitute the remaining 16%, so broccoli share of those is significant.
