Plasticulture A New Way of Life for Former Auto Worker

In today's economy, a lot of people are going into fields they never dreamed of in order to make a living.

Monday, July 26th 2010, 1:34 pm

By: News 9


By Adrianna Iwasinski, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- In today's economy, a lot of people are going into fields they never dreamed of in order to make a living.

That's the case for Mark Cannon. He worked for Dayton Tires for 12 years before it shut down. Now he's growing and selling vegetables, thanks to a new program being offered by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. It is called plasticulture and like the name implies, it uses plastic to cover the ground and keep the soil warmer so farmers are able to plant and harvest sooner.

Cannon has been growing for about a year.

"This land that we have here it belongs to my father-in-law and he has eight acres here in the middle of the city," said Cannon. "My mother-in-law got tired of me doing a whole lot of nothing there for a while so she brought an article to me about the plasticulture program."

That program opened up a whole new world to Cannon.

"They do a lot of this in Georgia and Florida and places where they grow a lot of vegetables for grocery stores and stuff. And we actually have some people that are selling to independent grocers such as Crest and Reeders and things like that," said Micah Anderson with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

The Department of Agriculture takes care of all the startup costs including putting in the irrigation, prepping the soil and laying down the plastic. They also subsidize some extra costs so the farmer can get a business started.

Plasticulture is a three-year program. After that, farmers are on their own.

Cannon said he's already established a pretty good clientele which appreciates his fresh off the vine produce. He said this beats a day at the tire plant any day.

There are around 70 farmers like Cannon around the state taking part in the state's plasticulture program.

You do have to apply and be accepted to take part. Learn more about the plasticulture program and how to apply.

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