Quality Soil Data = Quality Produce

How Extensive Soil Data Resulted in Award Winning Produce For this St. Louis Specialty Grower

Farm Profile
This family farm ran by brothers, specialty growers from the St. Louis metropolitan area, have been in business for over 30 years. Their crops included sweet corn, tomatoes, cabbage, various fresh produce and flowers.
This client had concerns about their produce not tasting as good as they thought it should. They were having issues with the shelf life of produce after harvesting. This primarily pertained to tomatoes and sweet corn.

The Challenge
This client had concerns about their produce not tasting as good as they thought it should. They were having issues with the shelf life of produce after harvesting. This primarily pertained to tomatoes and sweet corn.

The Results
With the help of SoilRight, it was discovered that the client had been applying what could be considered an excess amount of nitrogen, and in the incorrect form. After extensive soil data was collected, recommendations were made to combat the issue. Phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium levels were found to be satisfactory to abundant in the soil, and only a small amount of calcium was recommended. Recommendations were also made to lessen the amount of nitrogen and change the form of nitrogen to be used for the next application.
One of the interesting things in working with fresh produce is that results happen very quickly in comparison to commodity crops, such as field corn, soybeans and wheat. When the harvest took place, tomatoes were entered a tomato-tasting contest sponsored by a major radio station in this city. Almost unbelievably this client’s tomatoes won the contest out of hundreds of different contestants. Patrons of the market began asking what they did to make their produce taste so much better than it had in the past. This was a win for the client and a win for the patrons. Maybe even the bigger impact was less product was used to lessen any potential environmental concerns.