After picking 600+ pounds of aubergine eggplant we then sorted them by size, small, medium, and large.

Discarding any that were too small, under 5 inches, and had any imperfections or curvy shapes.

Upon a rough estimate I would say 80% of the eggplant was of a good enough quality to be sold to the gourmet restaurant the farm grows for.

We then sorted 20 bins of paprika.

Upon discarding any that were curved, sun burnt, or too green we were left with maybe 15% of produce that was of ideal quality.

As a price conscious customer, and someone who’s interested in minimizing waste, buying imperfect foods is once again of great interest.

Apparently from the experience of the farmer the imperfect food programs run by grocery chains to encourage consumers to buy imperfect produce won’t pay farmers for the produce but will take it and sell it to their customers making a small profit.

Instead of giving gourmet produce to the stores the farmer takes his produce to a farmers market, where he typically brakes even with the cost of gas.

Challenges present themselves at every point of the supply chain, up front equipment costs, growing the vegetable, picking the vegetable, and finding the right buyer.