Market Farming

[Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>]

>  I know of no one that plants soy beans thet does not plant food 
> grade beans.  There is a big difference in the way the plant grows 
> and the pods mature for harvest. 

Unfortunately, I know a number of growers who are growing beans that 
are not listed on the Washington site.
> Marie in your area a 100 day bean should work good for you.  We 
> prefer to use a little shorted day bean.  Rutgers Cooperative 
> extention has a good hand out on the vegetable soybean fact sheet 
> FSO41.  Very good fact sheet and also Washington State University 
> <http://agsyst.wsu.edu/edam.htm>http://agsyst.wsu.edu/edam.htm  .


This is the information that I was looking for:

"Edamame are more digestible than field soybeans and have lower 
levels of trypsin-inhibitor, making them easily digestible with only 
a short cooking time. Edamame are highly nutritious and contain about 
16% protein, almost twice that of lima beans, and are also rich in 
calcium and Vitamins A and B. Large-seeded types are consumed as a 
green vegetable or as a snack, and small-seeded types are used for 
sprouts. Edamame plants are very similar to bush beans in height 
(Figure 2), however the pods are not edible and only the bean is 
eaten. Cooked edamame have a sweet nutty flavor, and in China and 
Korea they are traditionally eaten as a vegetable in stir fries. In 
Japan, edamame are eaten as a snack with beer - much as Americans eat 
peanuts."

Unfortunately, the opportunity to make a buck through 'cleverness' is 
all too strong in market farming. When there's an opportunity to grab 
a niche market with field-rate inputs, someone will go for it. 
Without any meaningful competition, how is the farm market customer 
to be the wiser? Meanwhile, the search for 'fresher, more healthful 
food' results in a plate full of salted beans that are taking more 
from the eater than they bring to them.

Same can be said for the farmers market customers who gravitate 
towards the oversized greens that  come from too much nitrogen and/or 
too much potassium. Either condition represent a threat serious 
enough to human health that neither condition is allowed in imports 
to the EEC.

So it goes.

-Allan