Changing Demographics Provide Opportunities
February 1, 2009 The percentage of immigrants in the U.S is higher than it has been since 1930. Once here, many newcomers seek things that remind them of home. One of the most sought-after reminders is the taste of local dishes from home and meals enjoyed before immigrating. The power of food as a tie to home is evident in the consistent increase in the sales of ethnic vegetables.
Survey Says
Over the past few years, researchers at Rutgers, the University of Florida, and the University of Massachusetts have conducted intensive surveys in major Northeast markets to quantify this changing market demand and to identify crops that are popular among four large ethnic groups that dominate the Eastern Seaboard: Chinese, Asian Indian, Puerto Rican, and Mexican.
The last U.S. census, in 2000, found 2.7 million Puerto Ricans in the 16 East Coast states and the District of Columbia, a population that grew by 25% since the previous census in 1990. Though it’s the largest of the four groups studied group, it wasn’t the fastest-growing. There were 1.5 million Mexicans, 53% more than in 1990; almost 900,000 Chinese, 48% more; and 800,000 Asian Indians, a population that rose by 106%.
Using interpreters and bilingual surveys, 271 people in each of the four ethnic groups were given choices of vegetables typically found in their community markets and considered potential candidates to grow on East Coast farms, to find how much they eat and what they’re willing to spend.
Chinese selections included edamame, pak choy, oriental spinach, snow peas, oriental eggplant, edible luffa, baby pak choy, napa cabbage, perilla, oriental mustard, and malabar spinach. Asian Indians want things like eggplant, amaranth, bottle gourd, cluster beans, fenugreek leaves, mint leaves, mustard leaves, ridge gourd, white pumpkin, and bitter gourd.
Mexicans prefer freshly grown anaheim pepper, calabaza, calabacita, chili jalepeño, chili poblano, chili serrano, chili habañero, cilantro, and tomatillo.
Puerto Ricans are seeking produce like aji dulce, batata, calabaza, calabacita, chile caribe, cilantro, berenjena, pepinillo, and verdolaga.
High Demand
Market research showed that with many of these products, there’s a very real shortage. This opportunity has expanded with the dramatic increase of transportation costs, which has negatively impacted the importation of ethnic crops from other countries and other regions of the U.S.
Trials in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Florida have been conducted on research and commercial farms and have demonstrated that many of these promising crops can be easily grown to meet the rising demand for year-round supplies of ethnic produce.
This market provides a potential niche for small growers looking for new opportunities.
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