Saffron, an interesting high tunnel crop

Small farmers in the US state of Vermont are concerned traditional business won’t sustain their farms, but see potential in an unlikely and very expensive spice.
The snow-covered plains of Vermont are one of the last places you’d think saffron would grow. The world’s largest crops of the high-priced spice grow in Iran, Spain and Italy. Not places you’d automatically associate with heavy snowfall and bone-shattering cold weather.

But Margaret Skinner, a researcher professor at the University of Vermont, wants to bring saffron to the farmlands here. She planted the saffron corms in a high tunnel. And what they found took them by surprise. “We got higher yields of saffron, in terms of the weight of saffron, than what’s reported in field production in Spain or Iran,” Skinner says.

Armed with her new results, Skinner asked if farmers would be interested in planting saffron as a side crop. Julie Rubaud, owner of Red Wagon Plants, agreed to give it a try. Rubaud has been growing herbs and ornamental plants in Hinesburg, Vermont for 22 years. She has nine greenhouses, most of which remain empty during winter.

Learn more about Saffron growing in the full article at MSN News.