Specialty Crops

What are Specialty Crops?

Specialty crops are fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, landscape trees, and shrubs and flowers. Specialty crops are grown and used by people for food, medicine and beauty.

Minnesota is home to many specialty crop growers. These farmers use Minnesota’s natural resources of soil, water, and sunlight to plant, care for, and harvest a wide variety of specialty crops.

pile of raspberries

Producer

A producer has two roles:

To sell their goods
To buy resources in order to make their goods.

Farmers are producers. They sell the things they grow, and they also buy resources, like seeds and land where they can plant and grow crops.

Consumer

A consumer also has two roles:

To buy goods and services
To use resources

We are consumers when we use our resources, like our money, to buy things. We buy goods, such as vegetables, at the local farmers’ market.

Minnesota Specialty Crops