Video: Introducing Taro aka Cocoyam with Michael Carter

(a Utopian Seed Project Meet-the-Plant series)

At Carter Farms in Orange County, Virginia (7b), Michael does both non-profit agricultural education work and grows traditional African, Caribbean, and Asian crops for specialty markets. Carter Farms grows taro for leaf production, rather than roots. While living in West Africa, Michael observed how cocoyam leaves were bundled and sold, and harvested them at the same size for his markets. As one of the primary cooking greens in Nigeria and Ghana, small and medium-sized leaves (less than a foot long) were bundled together for sale. Michael’s no-till farm grows without pesticides or herbicides, relying on landscape fabric for weed control and soil warming. Taro is planted to fit the 6-8 inch holes, spacing that works well for leaf production. Michael dedicates approximately a tenth of an acre to taro greens production, distributed between tunnel and field, and sells half-pound bundles of leaves. Among his markets, there’s demand for taro root as well as leaves, but Carter Farms fills a specialty niche as the only grower of taro greens and has chosen not to sell the roots at this time. While about 70% of Michael’s customers are already familiar with taro greens, he does customer education for those who need it.

Learn more at thecarterfarms.com

NOTE: all parts of taro need to be cooked to break down the calcium oxalates present in all parts of taro. In this video, Michael Carter, of Carter Farms (a Virginia Century farm), gives a cultural perspective on growing and eating taro based on his time living in Ghana, where taro leaf is eaten as a primary green and called Nkontomire.