Growing Edible Cactus For Food And Profit

Growing Edible Cactus For Food And Profit CROPS New Crops Prickly pear cactus farming has yet to garner mainstream attention but it offers serious profit potential especially for those in arid regions across the United States The plant is native to the Americas and grows anywhere from Connecticut to Argentina While the prickly pear is often treated as a weed it has many uses from human and animal feed to natural fencing around gardens They are hardy in drought conditions and can combat desertification consequently improving the land it’s planted on The fruit and cactus pads offer impressive nutritional potential and are used medicinally in many regions The International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas ICARDA has been promoting the crop to millions of farmers worldwide The United Nations even considers it a food of the future for its drought tolerance ability to boost soil health and quick growing time to maturity Both the prickly pear cacti’s fruits and pads known as nopales are edible The pads are a common ingredient in many Mexican recipes including curries salads and stir-fries And despite their prickly exterior the cacti’s young pads work as a nutritious animal feed that can supplement up to 40 percent of a cattle’s diet and 100 percent of the diet of sheep and goats This naturally abrasive plant also offers potential as living fencing South Carolina’s Wild Hope Farm uses it as a fencing system to keep deer out of the vegetable garden Not only does a cactus fence require minimal maintenance once it’s established but the fruit and young pads can be continually harvested for profit The farm sold $15 000 in fruit from its fence in 2021 alone Additionally the cacti’s flowers attract beneficial pollinators to the garden plants to improve their production One limitation for commercial success with cacti fruits is the hair-like spines known as glochids that grow over them Wild Hope Farm has invented a technique for removing the spines making the fruit easier to harvest and handle The farm workers place the fruit on a wooden frame with a metal screen that acts like a sieve It’s attached by chains on all four corners and suspended above the ground so the workers can jostle the frame and fruit back and forth As two jostle the frame a third burns off the spines with a blow torch The final result? Cactus fruit that’s easier and safer to handle While it may take effort to scale up this technique to make it work commercially Wild Hope Farm and others like them are paving the way forward for more profitable cactus production Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Wild Hope Farm 575 Wild Hope Farm Road Chester S C 29706 ph 803-816-2633; www wildhopefarm com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.