Farming, profits and the radical creativity of capitalism
Spinaca was recently contacted by Beautiful bioSolutions, a life science company developing nutritional products to elevate children's health. Specifically, they wanted to know about our purple carrots, which we grow and sell whole or as juice powders. Purple carrots are high in anthocyanins and have nine times more antioxidants than orange carrots, which is why Beautiful bioSolutions wanted to speak with us. They are in the market for more ingredients for their product line, which is designed to support children’s cognitive health and mood, particularly children with autism. Their goal? To elevate the health of 1,000,000 children.
Communicating with Beautiful bioSolutions has definitely put a spring in my step. Why? Because all the blood, sweat and tears we’ve put into developing a new product and income stream is paying off. Because none of this would have happened if either Spinaca or Beautiful bioSolutions hadn’t identified a need, sought a solution and filled that need.
Farming isn’t easy, especially in California. (We’ve covered that before.) And it just gets tougher and tougher. In order to keep up with rising inputs, farmers have to be entrepreneurial and open up new markets—in other words, they need to find a need that isn’t being filled and fill it. The quickest return for the farm is to:
1) sell existing products in new markets or
2) create new markets by modifying products already farmed on the property.
Necessity is the mother of all invention, right?
The terror of newness
Of course, coming up with something new is terrifying. Sometimes we question ourselves: Is this going to work? We’ve been tempted to play it safe and grow iceberg lettuce because we know it will always sell, even though we also know there’s very little money in it. But to see our risk be rewarded is validation that we are on the right track with this whole Root-to-Shoot idea of developing products that use the entire plant—from root to shoot.
The way I see it, Spinaca is a business—a farming business—looking to improve people’s lives and earn a profit doing it. Profits give us validation that our idea to tap the nutritional potential of vegetable waste can open new revenue streams for American farmers and satisfy a need for kids who are malnourished.
Necessity + invention = need filled. It’s the equation behind most creative endeavors and the cornerstone of American capitalism. While of course capitalism can be abused and has seen more than its fair share of misturns and bad actors, capitalism can inspire a radical creativity that can improve lives and push economies forward. When done right, it can benefit all—and that is the style of capitalism we embrace at Spinaca Farms.