Introduction to Southern Heritage Crops

SHCs are a subset of the broader category of heirloom crops, but with a definite regional orientation (the southern United States) and connection to that region’s identity. Prior to the 1960s, Southern Heritage Crops defined mush of agriculture throughout the Southern U.S. states. These traditional row crops, garden vegetables, and fruits shaped the region’s culinary heritage and culture, but fell out of favor as new higher yielding crops were developed, better adapted to longer supply chain food systems and better able to resist a wide variety of pest and disease pressures.

Some of these crops fell out of favor due to the availability of relatively inexpensive synthetic sources of fertilizer following WWII. SHCs were largely designed to grow under what we now refer to as organic/sustainable conditions. They don’t use commercial fertilizers well. Some crops, like the buckwheat example, were grown for their ability to help increase soil fertility. So, these crops could be very significant for organic/sustainable growers and/or those wanting to build soil health. These plants were “curated” for multiple generations through careful selection, for flavor, “wholesomeness”, etc. Losing SHCs from the genome would be a significant loss, especially as these crops represent opportunities for small scale producers to potentially profit while reducing the amount of synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use.

Resurgent interest in locally sourced and geographically identified food products, particularly those noted for superlative flavor and nutrition, combined with modern methods to identify and quickly amplify genetic characteristics of crops, provide new opportunities for producers and consumers alike. SHCs possess a unique potential for small/medium farmers to diversify existing operations and create wholly new operations focused on potentially profitable product niches.

Some interesting potential crops for South Carolina and nearby states include: the blight-resistant Chinquapin; African Runner Peanuts; the Palmetto Asparagus; Benne Seed; Sea Island White Flint Corn; Jimmy Red Corn; Cocke’s Prolific Corn; Guinea Flint Corn; Yellow Creole Corn; Lovette Corn; Purple Straw Wheat; Timilia Durum Wheat; Seashore Black Seed Rye; Dutch Fork Pumpkin; Rice Pea; Sea Island Red Pea; Charleston Wakefield Cabbage; Yellow Cabbage Collard; White Mountain Collard; Willow Leaf Butter Bean; Hick’s Mulberry; Lemon Cling Peach; and Ossabaw Island Indigo. Each of these products has a distinctive taste, a story, and a record of durability in cultivation over half a century in the region. If savvy entrepreneurial farmers better understood them, they could potentially be elevated to the status of signature foods of the region with the name recognition of Carolina Gold Rice, Vidalia Onions, and Cherokee Purple Tomatoes. This status would require such crops provide sufficient overall profitability and workability for farmers as products and as ingredients in processed foods to warrant the investment of education and effort.