Pickles, Giardiniera, Mustard, and Salsa: Expanding Market Opportunities for Kelp Farmers
In 2020, GreenWave received a grant from USDA’s Farmers Market Promotion Program to develop resources and provide technical assistance to kelp farmers, value-added product companies, and co-packers to expand opportunities to bring kelp products to market. Using kelp from the GreenWave farm, we worked with Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Harvest Kitchen, a small-scale co-packing facility, to develop and manufacture four recipes that featured kelp as a primary ingredient: Bread & Butter Kelp Pickles, Giardiniera Kelp Pickles, Kelp Dijon Mustard, and Kelp Salsa Verde. In this Q&A, GreenWave’s Market Innovation Strategist Sam Garwin discusses the ins and outs of co-packing, recipe development, and how this work opens market opportunities for kelp farmers.
What are value-added products?
Value-added products are created when you modify an agricultural product from its naturally-occurring state in such a way that end consumers perceive a higher value. This might involve changing the form or shelf life of the food, for example by cooking or milling it; growing it in a unique way, such as with organic methods of production; or even providing enhanced sourcing information to go along with the product.
The concept of ‘higher value’ can be tricky, because value can vary significantly depending on your target market. Some customers value convenience, in which case a shelf-stable product with a familiar flavor profile might be a desirable value-add. Other customers value freshness and novelty, in which case a chef-crafted, ready-to-heat meal might be preferable.
If done properly, value-added products can open new market opportunities and extend the season for farmers, allowing them to make a higher profit than if they were to simply sell their crop in its raw form.
What role do co-packers play in the food system? How does this benefit farmers?
A co-packer is a manufacturing company that operates on a contract basis to turn raw ingredients into finished value-added products for clients. Co-packers have certified commercial kitchens, professional-grade equipment, a team of trained employees, and deep expertise in food manufacturing and safety that allow them to produce large volumes of food products efficiently and cost-effectively.
Co-packers can be game-changers for farmers looking to add value-added products to their line-up, because they allow the farmer to keep their time and energy largely focused on what they do best — growing a high-quality crop — while the co-packer takes on the work of value-added product manufacturing. The farmer still needs to be involved and engaged, especially at the beginning of the relationship and during new product development, but the heavy operational lifting is completed by the co-packing partner.
How does this project affect market opportunities for kelp?
One of the biggest challenges for beginning kelp farmers is the short growing and harvest season: in most cases, farmers can only harvest sugar kelp between April and May, with the highest growth rates occurring in the later weeks of the season. This creates a processing and distribution bottleneck, in which a huge volume of kelp must be stabilized (frozen, dried, or processed into value-added products) or sold fresh (for someone else to stabilize) in a very short period of time. By developing the option for kelp farmers in Southern New England to co-pack at Harvest Kitchen, our hope is that we will make a small dent in that bottleneck, enabling farmers to preserve some of their crop in the form of shelf-stable products that they can sell directly to consumers year-round. Perhaps more importantly, though, the Harvest Kitchen relationship can be used as a training ground to prepare farmers to work with larger co-packers as they grow.
It’s perhaps worth pointing out that this project also supports Harvest Kitchen, whose activities normally revolve around processing surplus and B-grade produce from local land-based farms. Land-based farms frequently have a harvest lull between February and May; this kelp co-packing program will help Harvest Kitchen keep their equipment and staff utilized during those slower months.
What does it take to develop a recipe with a co-packer?
Communication, iteration, and patience! Even if you’re starting with a tried-and-true recipe from your home kitchen, changes will be necessary in order to scale up the recipe and get your cost per unit into a reasonable range. Frequently, this is more a matter of process (the amount of labor required) than ingredients, although both contribute to the financial feasibility of the end product. With each formulation change, you’ll want to test the product for flavor, texture, and aesthetic changes to make sure you’re comfortable with the results. You also need to have enough cash in the bank to cover the cost of these iterations, because the resulting products will not always be something you can or want to sell.
What products/recipes did GreenWave develop out of this project?
We developed four recipes in collaboration with Harvest Kitchen: Bread & Butter Kelp Pickles, Giardiniera Kelp Pickles, Kelp Dijon Mustard, and Kelp Salsa Verde. We chose these recipes because they are variations on familiar shelf-stable products, the idea being that farmers won’t have to spend time explaining what the products taste like — they can focus on telling the story of their farm and the benefits of kelp.
How can farmers access these recipes?
The recipes will be shared in the fall edition of GreenWave’s farmer newsletter Holdfast. Each installment of Holdfast profiles stories from the field, shares innovations in farm design, gear, and technology, and highlights upcoming opportunities for training, funding, and new markets. If you'd like to sign up to receive GreenWave's farmer newsletter, you can do so here.
So, should everyone run out and start working with a co-packer?
Definitely not! Co-packing isn’t for everyone. It’s best suited for businesses who have seen demand for their products increase rapidly, and they’re struggling to keep up. In that case, if you don’t love the actual work of production and/or you can’t afford to build out your own facility, outsourcing manufacturing to a co-packer could be a great option to free up time and resources to focus on sales, marketing, or another aspect of the business where you can bring more value.
If you’re still operating at a relatively small scale, don’t have cash in the back to pay up-front deposits, purchase large batches of ingredients and packaging materials, or aren’t comfortable holding others accountable remotely, co-packing probably isn’t the best fit right now, and a better option might be to rent space at a local commercial kitchen.
What new farmer resources are in the pipeline?
In addition to the work with Harvest Kitchen, this past season GreenWave also began to explore the post-harvest biophysical characteristics of sugar kelp to better understand how to preserve quality between the time of harvest and the time of processing. We’re excited to continue this work in 2022, the results of which will be science-backed recommendations for post-harvest transportation and storage temperatures and containers.