Ted Hutten -- local farmer finds a niche

The 2009 Nova Scotia Food Summit just wrapped up: three days of meetings in the heart of the province's agricultural country.

In conjunction with the summit, mainland Nova Scotia's CBC Radio One morning program, Information Morning, ran a number of stories on local food and food security.

One of them was my 5-minute documentary on farmer Ted Hutten. He's been farming since age 18, and he and his wife (who, apparently, he has known since he was two!) bought the land they currently farm from his mother.

Hutten started off growing what he calls Dutch immigrant fare: green beans, potatoes, carrots. But he soon realized there was a niche to be filled in the exotic vegetable market. Now he grows all kinds of Asian greens and radishes, and he has a devoted following among customers with Middle Eastern and East Asian backgrounds.

I talked to Hutten and some of his customers at the Halifax Farmers' Market recently. (It meant getting there for 7 AM -- I should have been paid double). The documentary runs five minutes, and you can listen to it in mp3 format here.