Prices and demand

It's been another challenging day in the produce business.  The growers here in the North Country are loosing their collective shirts this season as the weather is harvesting far more of their crops than they are.  The problem is, Mother Nature doesn't pay for what she takes.  Some farmers may throw up their hands and say they'll get real jobs.  But are there any real jobs out there?   The seductive aspect of growing fresh produce, at least until recently, has been if you do your job of growing the crop and you harvest it, the worst case is you will make a living, and if the market is high due to someone else's misfortune, you may make a king's ransom.  The problem today is almost everyone is misfortunate, due to weather, foreign competition or government regulations which disregard market conditions.  The chance to make that big score gets more and more remote, and the idea that it takes the investment of a small fortune just to make a lower middle class income starts the head scratching at any gathering of practicing growers.   Add to those concerns the wild card of global climate change.   One third generation grower has already suggested his two sons find off farm employment unless they can come up with a viable business plan for increasing farm revenue.   This kind of thinking will lead to the off shoring of America and Canada's food supply, as surely as our industrial base has relocated to China.  Without a coherent national plan to preserve and protect our produce growers this might be the last generation of consumers to eat a diet of American grown fruits and veggies.  This is a bleak, but all to possible future.