Beyond salad: harvesting spinach seed for grain consumption as an additional source of income

In response to consumer and producer demands, the Vegetable breeding program at Texas A&M AgriLife-Weslaco has been working on developing solutions to increase the spinach industry competitiveness. Texas is one of the leading spinach-producing states in the US for both the fresh and canning markets. Unfortunately, the higher-value fresh market production where producers make most of their profit, is constantly challenged by endemic diseases that significantly reduce producers’ income. Even when resistant cultivars and cultural practices are used by growers, mild disease damage can happen, negatively affecting spinach quality and therefore reducing its commercial value for fresh market, leaving less profitable canning market as the only option since quality requirements are lower. In contrast, under those conditions, spinach could still produce significantly high yields of seed for grain with valuable nutritional content that can fetch premium prices for the gluten-free niche markets. Intriguingly, little or no deliberate efforts have been made to evaluate spinach seed yield and nutritional potential as food. This project is evaluating spinach grain production as an additional source of income at the end of the crop cycle when producers have finished leaf harvesting as a double purpose crop by assessing yield potential, nutritional quality, and economic feasibility as an alternative source of income to the farmer. In addition, it will expand the farmer portfolio of alternative produce, increased farmed acreage and alternative fringe products. This will cushion Texas farmers against total loss, save on farm insurance costs, and expand the food industry.