Southern Heritage Crops

The Southern Heritage Crops Project focuses on the development of niche, heirloom crops, in order to provide new diversification strategies for small/medium farmers in the South. Southern Heritage Crops (SHCs) are crops that historically were grown in the Southern region, contributing to regional culinary heritage and culture, but that fell out of favor as new higher yielding crops were developed to be better adapted to longer supply chain food systems and with better resistance to a wide variety of pest and disease pressures. Resurgent interest in locally sourced and geographically identified food products, combined with modern methods to identify and quickly amplify genetic characteristics of crops, provides new opportunities for producers and consumers alike. SHCs represent a unique potential for small/medium farmers to diversify existing operations and to create wholly new operations focused on potentially profitable product niches. The Southern Heritage Crops Project looks at determining the most viable market niches of SHCs and the requirements necessary to develop this market to its full potential.