Growers in the state of Tennessee are able to make informed decisions about producing and marketing specialty crops with the aid of multi-year project led by the University of Tennessee Extension Center for Profitable Agriculture (CPA).
The project, 'Chronicling Tennessee’s Specialty Crop Landscape', studies Tennessee producers who grow and market any of six specialty crops: cut flowers, persimmons, blueberries, elderberries, garlic or microgreens.
With the spectrum of possible specialty crops in mind, Rob Holland, director of the CPA, and a team of Extension specialists with the UT Institute of Agriculture surveyed growers and UT Extension specialists across Tennessee to generate a list of approximately 50 specialty crops. Project collaborators then worked diligently to narrow the 50-crop list to six crops representative of specialty crop production in the state.
Armed with the list of six specialty crops, team members then visited and interviewed Tennessee growers and used the information gathered to design education and outreach for other producers in Tennessee. The project includes a series of crop profiles that highlight lessons learned from each grower.
Source: utianews.tennessee.edu