Developing Oregon’s Winter Vegetable Market: North Willamette Research and Extension Center Field Day

Authors: Heidi Noordijk, Nick Andrews, and Lane Selman, Oregon State University Small Farms Program

Publish Date: Spring 2020

Participants bundled up to walk through the North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) on February 13. The field day brought together over 90 farmers, breeders, seed company reps, researchers, wholesale distributors, and market managers. Crop by crop discussions provided an opportunity to view varieties still in the field and learn about production and marketing techniques to improve yield, efficiency, and marketability.

Varieties selected have been shown to be high performing (yield/quality/winter hardiness/ storability) and have good market potential in past vegetable variety trial research projects. The Small Farms team at NWREC grew 7 crops and 52 varieties during the 2019/20 season for the project. The overarching goal of this project is to increase the production and consumption of locally-grown winter vegetables in Oregon, including eight crops: winter squash, celeriac, garlic, Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli and radicchio. Vegetables grown at the NWREC trials were used at the Winter Vegetable Sagra and Variety Showcase to connect farmers, seed growers, chefs, produce buyers and consumers in a fun and educational way.

Here are highlights from the NWREC Winter Vegetable Field Day. Participants shared their ideas for future research needs in winter vegetable production, storage and marketing. These ideas will be key to developing new research projects and trials for future seasons. Visit the Winter Vegetable Project Webpage https://www.eatwintervegetables.com/varieties

For the list of varieties, seed sources, and recipes. Data from the trials will be shared in