Specialty v. Commodity Crops

There are two main categories of crops grown by farmers: specialty crops and commodity crops. Specialty crops are diverse in flavor, color, and nutrient content, and they are the backbone of cuisine. They are those grown for consumption immediately after harvest, to be eaten just as they are. We wouldn’t have guacamole without avocados, limes, cilantro, and jalapeños, for example. Everything we grow at Area 2 Farms is considered to be a “specialty crop”. Our harvests are intended for you to be eaten when the nutrients are at their highest levels and the flavor is its best.

On the other hand, commodity crops are indistinguishable from each other and are usually grown for processing. The big four commodity crops wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice are grown in mass quantities and often become refined before a consumer would eat it (i.e. wheat becomes flour, corn becomes high fructose corn syrup, soy soybeans become soy lecithin). Another way to think of these crops is as future ingredients for processed foods. While the ingredients these crops eventually become are important to our current food system, they are less nutritionally dense, less diverse in flavor, and less accessible than specialty crops. 

Almost HALF of the world’s arable land is utilized to grow commodity crops. While these crops contribute to the global economy in many ways, they require a lot of manufacturing energy to be effectively metabolized by our bodies - making them inherently less sustainable.

We grow specialty crops here at Area 2 Farms - closer to you and using relatively more sustainable agricultural practices - which contributes more value to our local food economy than a comparable commodity crop farm might. Not only are we shortening food miles, but we are also contributing more nutrient-dense, healthful foods to our local food system.

One of the things that we are excited about every day about farming the way we do here is the chance to be a positive stakeholder in our community. Here in Arlington, Virginia we have an unfortunate lack of fresh food resources in neighborhoods where families live. We hope we are making it a little easier for Washingtonians to eat more healthfully, closer to home.