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Merced, California
July 13, 2003
from Knight-Ridder
Tribune
Mike Lee, The Sacramento Bee,
California
via Agnet
July 15/03
According to this story, 1.5 million ears of Merced Red sweet
corn are being grown outside town and shipped to Northern
California supermarkets by Colorful Harvest of Monterey, an
offshoot of Minneapolis-based
Green Giant Fresh.
The story says that
Merced Red is the most recent example of chameleon crops bred
through traditional means -- not by genetic engineering -- to
make vegetables and fruits more nutritious. On the way are
purple broccoli, yellow carrots, red-leafed spinach and orange
cauliflower -- many grown on California farms.
An increasing number of
the state's farmers are experimenting with crops in new colors,
encouraged by heightened interest in "functional foods" that
many think are healthier to eat.
Plant components called
phytonutrients -- often the coloring agents in plants -- have
been linked to cancer prevention and anti-aging benefits. For
example, lycopene brings red to tomatoes, and some research
suggests it can help prevent some cancers.
Santa Barbara-based Larry
Kampa, head of North America sales and marketing for Danish
company Daehnfeldt,
which developed a purple cauliflower and plans the first large
planting of an orange variety this summer in California, was
quoted as saying, "What you are doing is adding color to the
plate. The consumer for the most part is always looking for
something a little new and exciting to serve."
Roberta Cook, marketing
economist at the University of California, Davis, was cited as
saying the color trend is another indication that the state's
farmers are aggressively differentiating their products in what
she called a "rather saturated and mature food market."
Early indications are
that Colorful Harvest and fourth-generation Merced farmer Tim
Pellissier Jr. found a market niche with 80 acres of Merced Red
corn, the first of which was harvested last week. It's headed
for select markets in Northern California and around the country
as part of the effort to build and gauge demand for next year.
Doug Ranno, general
manager of Colorful Harvest, said he's never seen such strong
initial reaction from buyers in 28 years in the produce
business. |
