The produce of the island is oats; of which about five thousand bolls, each equal to nine Winchester bushels, are sown; five hundred of beans, a few peas, and above a thousand bolls of potatoes, are annually set: notwithstanding this, five hundred bolls of oatmeal are annually imported to subsist the natives.

Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, (Chester, 1774).

The island farmers no longer grow any cereals commercially though oats and barley are still grown for feeding cattle.

There is one market garden in Whiting Bay, Kirkend Nursery, which is now producing a wider range of vegetables including such rarities as asparagus, while cooking and salad herbs and vegetables are grown at Kingscross Herbs. Look out, also, for local vegetables which may have come from surplus garden produce. A few village shops such as The Village Shop in Whiting Bay, and The Good Food Shop in Brodick, have taken the initiative to act as an ad hoc market for this kind of produce.