2018 Spring Farm

2018 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 22, 2018 Page 37 n Horticulture is defined by the USDA as “that branch of agriculture concerned with growing plants that are used by people for food, for medicinal purposes, and for aesthetic gratification.” The reason for the confusion stems from the descriptions of these specializations. The descriptions refer to common usage, which differs from scientific language. n For example, vegetables are frequently defined as herbaceous plants, of which some amount can be eaten raw or cooked as some sort of meal. n Fruits on the other hand, are commonly eaten as a snack outside of a meal. Take tomato or cucumber, which scientifically are classified as fruits; by the definition above those are eaten as vegetables. Believe it or not, the description of plants by common usage required legal intervention in 1893 via a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Horticultural crops are still considered to be separate from what most people think of with regard to cash crops. Cash crops are agricultural crops grown to sell and return a profit. Cash crops are usually purchased for sale on a large market. The term cash crop is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are fed to the producer’s own livestock or grown as food to be used by the immediate population. Organic crops are sometimes considered different from specialty crops. Organic products (crops or otherwise) have to be certified by the USDA, under one of four categories: crops, livestock, processed products, or wild crops. Organic products have to be produced with the following requirements in mind: n Produced without excluded methods, e.g., genetic engineering, ionizing radiation, or sewage sludge n produced using allowed substances n overseen by a USDA National Organic Program-authorized certifying agent n following all USDA organic regulations Most farms and businesses that grow or sell Continue 8