Bok-What? Farming Gets a Face-Lift :: Essays Papers

Bok-What? Farming Gets a Face-Lift 1. New Jersey understructure of the indelible and intelligent Jersey cow, whose milk is less forthcoming than her sister Holsteins around the country, but richer and creamier, nonetheless. Then there are the fields the three estates and acres of Jersey corn stretching up towards the hot summer sun, basking in its glory, waiting patiently for the day when man will enter with his massive harvest time machines, collecting ear upon ear in a dizzying display of mechanized efficiency. And who could forget Farmer Hom, with his fine plot of bok choy, maturement sprightly on his tiny farm alongside lilliputian mustard greens and bitter melon (Taipei Times, 17 Nov. 2002)? Wait a minute. That doesnt seem right. What are mustard greens, bitter melon, and bok choy doing in the middle of New Jersey?2. The answer lies in the current popularity of the veg itself an attractive vegetable with a mild, meaty heart and tender, darker green le aves . . . bok choy has become the vegetable of the moment (Fabricant, 22 October 2001). Restaurants combining Asian seasoning to their dishes or employing fusion concepts have created a sudden demand for strange and exotic produce. Regular consumers, too, progressively interested in more healthful foods, have begun to show interest in this Brassica vegetables alleged cancer-fighting properties. There are some, like Farmer Hom in New Jersey, who have taken notice. Thus, they are abandoning traditional base commodity crops like corn or soybeans, and focusing, instead, on these newly emerging niche markets, growing or creating a specific product for specific people.3. Niche farming is just one of many trends in agriculture that seeks to add value to a product by catering to the specific reads of the consumer directly -- such as restaurants or individuals, rather than large transnational corporations. It is a concept that is benefiting small farmers directly, those strug gling to compete with large, highly capitalized agribusiness because it allows them to produce products the big guys cant the most successful farmers have turned away from traditional farming that produces what people need to niche markets base instead on what people want (Quimby, 17 Nov. 2002).4. Traditional farming practices follow an industrial model of production -- one based on specialization, mechanization, routinization, and economies of scale or size.