Premier's Award for Edamame grower

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

When Jacob MacKellar was looking for a way to add value to his family’s 3,000 acre farm operation in Lambton County near Alvinston, he found an answer in the freezer section of the grocery aisle: frozen edamame.

Edamame is a type of soybean that first became popular in Asia as a side dish or snack or as an ingredient in sweets or soups. It’s picked before it has a chance to harden and can be par-boiled then frozen to preserve its taste.

“It seemed like an opportunity to replace imported products with Canadian products,” says MacKellar, 22. “The market’s not near as big as peas or regular green beans but it is one of the only growing markets in the frozen vegetable aisle.”

MacKellar and his family were one of 10 regional winners of the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence in southwestern Ontario recognized Monday in Strathroy. Others included Rush Creek Wines Ltd., Aylmer; Al McColl Farms, Plympton-Wyoming; Hog-Tied Farms Ltd., Thedford; Steve Vokes, Petrolia; Bloemen Dairy Farms Inc., Lucan; Junior and Karen Van Geffen, Strathroy; Predator Bird Services Inc. and London Dairy Farms Ltd., London; Hoenhorst Farms Ltd., Innerkip; and Salford Farm Machinery Ltd., Salford.

The award program recognizes innovative ideas that take place within the agriculture industry. At the Monday awards ceremony, these ideas ranged from Predator Bird Services Inc. and London Dairy Farms Ltd use of trained hawks and falcons to “herd” pesky starlings into a humane trap to equipment like the Van Geffen’s giant, time-saving hay feeder and Salford’s residue tillage specialist.

As for edamame, Jacob says the crop is still in the “experimental” stage. Frozen is the main market but the family is also considering the fresh market. They grew their first edamame crop last year. They did a pilot launch with Fiesta Farms in Toronto and will work with the retailer over the summer to develop packaging. “Next fall we’ll have our full launch with our large crop that we planted this spring,” Jacob says.

Despite this spring’s bad weather, there have been no problems getting the crop into the ground, he says, explaining that the bean is three to four times the size of a regular soybean and because of its size needs to be planted in a lighter soil. BF