Uvalde, Texas
July 19, 2007
U.S. Department of Agriculture
figures show that California produces almost all of the nation's
commercial artichokes. But a team of agricultural researchers is
working to change that, said Dr. Daniel Leskovar, a vegetable
physiologist with Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station.
"We're looking at the viability of artichokes as a new crop to
enhance Texas agriculture," said Leskovar, who works at the
Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center
in Uvalde. "There have been a few attempts to grow artichokes in
the Rio Grande Valley over the past decades, but those were not
successful due to the climate there. We're hoping to grow them
successfully in this region û and possibly others."
The usually mild winter climate of the Texas Winter Garden
region and its surrounding area is conducive to growing
artichokes, he said. It also may be possible to grow them
commercially in parts of West and North Texas.
Leskovar, who works for Texas Agricultural Experiment Station,
and his team have already been successful in growing several
artichoke varieties at the Uvalde center. They also have had
success with initial trial production on a farm in nearby
D'Hanis.
"We planted two hybrid varieties of artichoke on two acres but
had mixed results, mainly because we planted one of them out of
season and there was a freeze," said Jerry Van Damme of Van
Damme Farms. "But we did OK with Madrigal variety we planted on
one of those acres. In fact, the buyer wanted to be sure they
got all of our artichokes because he said they were superior in
quality and taste to the ones he was getting from California."
Artichoke production "is not something producers should just
jump into," cautioned Van Damme. "Some [hybrid] varieties can
cost a lot per acre to plant, and there are still a lot of
things we have to work out with their production. I think it's
best to start with just a few acres."
Once the specifics are worked out, producers should be able to
plant about 2,200 artichoke plants per acre or about 5,500
plants per hectare, Leskovar said.
"Artichokes would be an excellent choice as an alternative crop
for Texas agriculture because they are high in health properties
and also have a high profit margin," he said. "They contain
strong antioxidants, are a very good source of vitamins C, K,
folate, magnesium, manganese, copper and dietary fiber, and they
have phytochemicals, which are important in preventing or
fighting diseases. And artichoke heads typically sell for one to
three dollars each." An artichoke plant can produce six or more
heads of different sizes per season, he said. And an added
benefit is that the purple flowers left on unharvested plants
are sometimes sold for commercial floral use.
"Artichokes have the potential for being a good crop for the
Winter Garden and other areas of the state with limited water
resources because they are reasonably water-efficient," added
Dr. Bill Holloway, Experiment Station resident director at the
Uvalde center.
To produce heads, artichoke plants require a cool season and a
mild warm season, Leskovar said, and the Winter Garden region
provides both.
"The cool season is needed to induce bolting and flower stalk
growth to produce the immature flower or head of the artichoke,"
he said. "And the mild-warm season provides increased radiation
and temperature for further head development."
Leskovar and his team, with the support of the Vegetable and
Fruit Improvement Center in College Station, are now in their
third year of assessing the crop's feasibility for Texas.
Beginning in July 2004, they planted five types of artichokes in
a test field at the Uvalde center to see which would fare best.
About 800 artichoke plants were planted in a half-acre area.
They used plants raised from seeds in containers in the center's
greenhouse and transplanted them in late September. Another
planting followed in December.
"Green Globe and Imperial Star types gave the best results,"
Leskovar said. "These two varieties were considered the best on
the basis of yield and water use, along with head size, shape,
color, uniformity and phytochemical content."
Samples of the two æwinning' artichoke varieties were taken to
Constanzo Farms Inc., a large South Texas vegetable producer and
distributor, for assessment.
"The artichokes we saw from the Uvalde center were, in a word,
beautiful," said Constanzo co-owner Michael Adamek. "Their
quality was as good or better than what we've seen out of
California, and so was the taste."
Adamek showed the artichokes to several of his produce buyers
and they were "excited" about the possibility of growing them in
the Winter Garden, he said.
"If we're able to grow artichokes in this region, that means we
can also cut down on the cost of transporting them," Adamek
said. "And with the increasing cost of fuel, that can mean a
significant savings to the buyer when compared to getting them
from California."
Over the past three years, Leskovar's team has continued to
refine its research, including looking at subsurface drip
irrigation in combination with different nitrogen rates,
applying plant growth regulators and devising summer pruning
techniques. The team hopes these practices will extend the early
spring harvest and produce a better quality and quantity of
artichoke.
They also have been working on improving the artichoke plants'
transplant tolerance to drought stress to ensure more successful
planting in late summer.
"There's a direct correlation between head quality and an early
harvest," Leskovar said. "An increase in temperature during late
head development often means a decrease in quality."
Now the team has collected enough science-based crop feasibility
data to share with other Winter Garden producers, along with
some initial production strategies, he said.
"We already know we can produce artichokes in this region that
compare very favorably with the ones grown in Spain and Italy,
as well as in California," Leskovar said. "We hope Texas
retailers and consumers will see the advantage of buying locally
produced medium-to-large size artichoke heads with excellent
flavor and freshness. This would be of economic benefit to many
Texas producers and help create a new product market to further
enhance Texas agriculture."
by Paul Schattenberg |
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