Here’s the sad truth about an organic broccoli field after harvest

Have you ever seen a typical organic broccoli field after harvest? I have, many times, and it’s not a pretty sight.

What’s wrong with this picture? This field still holds thousands of pounds of nutritious, organic superfood in the form of leaves, stems and tossed-aside heads, destined to be disked back into the soil. All because they don’t look the part of flawless supermarket broccoli, wrapped in plastic. And this is just one field. After one harvest.

For all the time we farmers spend growing and tending to our crops, you’d think we’d gather up every last leaf to put to good use. But one farmer’s trash is another farmer’s treasure, as the saying goes… At Spinaca Farms, our Root-to-Shoot philosophy holds that all edible parts of the plant are created equal and deserve a place in the modern food production system. That means the perfectly nutritious food lying on the field floor after a harvest can boost a smoothie or protein bar, fight a dog’s dental decay, round-out a soldier’s MRE or help fight hunger halfway across the world.

Have you ever seen a typical broccoli field after harvest? I have, many times, and it's not a pretty sight. After harvest, broccoli fields still hold thousands of pounds of nutritious, organic superfood in the form of leaves, stems and tossed-aside heads, destined to be disked back into the soil.

Now, when I see a broccoli field after harvest, I no longer see a wasteland: I see a new frontier.