Stop and Go Spring

It was clear and cold this morning, the kind of day ski areas pray for in late March.  Unfortunately, most of the ski areas in the North Country shut down last week due to the unseasonably warm weather we have had for most of the month.  The golf courses however are open, but most golfers will not play with temps in the low 40s, so what is an athlete supposed to do.  Well, the yard and garden await.  The garden can keep waiting, as it would be folly to do anything more than cleanup in anticipation of spring planting.  It is time to start early lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, etc in cold frames, but that won't take too long. The yard will still be muddy and depressing, so maybe indoor pursuits will be the order of the day this weekend.  Either way, it is preferable to obsessing about the dismal state of produce markets across the country.  I would like to say there are some bright spots in the landscape, but I have not seen any, at least among the items I handle on a regular basis.  At least the ski areas can pack it up and wait for next year.  Those of us in the produce business will continue the death march into April.

Up and down

Driving south to New Jersey yesterday was a progression through the seasons.  Started with snow on the NCR changed to sleet and freezing rain in the Adirondacks, cloudy and cool in the Hudson valley and late spring sunshine and a thunderstorm in NJ.  Most areas seem about 3 weeks ahead of normal.  For veg growers, it is not such a big deal, but the fruit growers in the northeast are dreading the next month, as many trees are breaking dormancy and they will have to deal with smudge pots, wind machines, etc. in a probably vain attempt to prevent late frost damage.

Another dull day

Most markets continue in the doldrums as the California and Mexican winter deals wind down.  The trifecta of high transportation cost, overplanting and good growing weather has been economic poison to growers across the country.  Most produce brokers have been 20-40% below their year ago volumes.  Definitely the winter of everyone's discontent.  One of the national produce press outlets interviewed vendors at the New England Produce Center in Boston, and they were already looking to the local deal as economic salvatiion this summer.  Citing high fuel prices and truck shortages, they hope to source as much local produce as possible.  Perhaps they have already forgotten about the havoc hurricane Irene visited on the Northeast last summer.  Of course, not being growers, they don't realize the damage the local fruit crops will probably suffer from late frosts, now that buds are ready to open 3-4 weeks earlier than normal.  If weather anomalies of this magnitude continue into the summer, veg crops will be affected also with predictable results.  The markets in the East were once exclusively local outlets for tens of thousands of growers, my grandfather and uncle included.  When California began shipping lettuce from Salinas in the 40s, it ushered in the era of western produce and the decline of the local deal.  Many would like to think produce growers will magically appear to satisfy the demand for locally grown.  I think there will be many small boutique operations that will take advantage of their location, but I doubt they will drive the western deal out.  More likely it will be a long slow decline and with better shipping technology cheaper offshore deals and Canadian production  will replace the California deal on a year round basis.  It will be ironic, but not unforseen.

Payment due

The early spring we were all enjoying came to a screeching halt on Sat. and Sunday as thermometers struggled to reach 40 degrees.  Tee off on Sat. morning was just at 40 and it dipped below that during the round, but at least there was not wind.  Today, we expect 40 MPH gusts and highs in the 30s.  Seems like March is doing the lamb/lion thing.  At least the long range is saying next week will be above normal again.  The veg markets are still stuck in neutral or reverse.  Most California shippers are leaving the Desert areas with their tails tucked firmly between their legs.  If not the worst marketing season in memory, it has to have come close to that.  Unfortunately, if weather does not take a toll, the plantings in Huron, Oxnard and Salinas will insure low markets continue through April.  As I have said before, the combination of excess acreage and salubrious weather is a perfect storm of cheap pricing and glutted markets.  A perfect analogy for this is the opening of "The Hunger Games".  Americans shelled out over $150 million to be entertained by starving teenagers killing each other for the amusement of a "bread and circuses" dystopian society.  The sated capital city is today's American public, and the starving teens are the east and west coast producers.  On second thought, that is a little strained, but I think most growers and shippers will get the sentiment.

Back to the new normal

It looks as though we might actually dip below freezing during the early part of next week.  I have been getting used to lows that are higher than our average highs during the past week, so it will be a shock to the system if the nighttime lows reach their normal 20-30 degree range.  But by the end of next week we should be back to the above normal regime we have gotten used to.  The garlic is up, and the spinach I planted last weekend is waiting for a shower to sprout.  The regular garden thanks to 10 years of compost is fully tillable.  The secret garden behind the barn is rapidly drying out and even the ultra secret garden, which contains the heaviest soil I have yet worked is drier than at any time I can remember.  The natives all claim we will pay for this early spring, but I feel more optimistic.  As with any farmer, as I stand on the threshold of a new growing season, all I can see is beautiful weather, timely rainfall and perfect crops.  However, I know this forecast will probably run smack into reality in the next month or so.  Til then it's all good.

Local vs. organic

A new study, doubtless financed by someone with a preordained conclusion says that Americans prefer locally produced fresh fruits and veggies over organic.  I'm sure you could slant the questions to get this result, but I also think, especially in a down economy that price has a much more important role than either origin or organic bona fides.  I know if I can buy local spinach for $2.00/lb. and organic for $4.00, it is a no brainer.  However, if my local apples are $1.99/lb and organic is $2.09, I might choose the organic as a show of support for sustainable agriculture.  This may seem to be a Mitt Romney type flip-flop, but consumers make such judgements all the time.  Personally, as an avid gardener I am somewhat turned off by the sanctimonious tone of the organic movement with its emphasis on total purity.  My grandfather farmed for many years using some of the most toxic pesticides known to man, but he did not use them lightly.  I would never use those materials, but if I were a commercial grower and my crop was about to be overcome by insects or disease, I don't know if I would retain my organic certification in the face of economic destruction.  I grow my garden as organically as possible, but my customers at the farmer's market don't insist on the formal designation.  They would prefer fresh  unblemished produce grown by someone they know than some Earthbound stuff that has probably been in three different warehouses and traveled 3000 miles before hitting the shelf at the local co-op.  That's all I've got.

Counting calories

The NYT food blogger, Marc Bittman weighs in today (pun intended) on the new book coauthored by Marion Nestle, called "Calories Count".  The book makes the point, which is disputed by the fast food industry that the kind of calories you put into your body, not the absolute number is what controls your weight.  A diet high in fruits and vegetables may have as many calories as a donut and bacon diet, but the high fiber content of the former means many of the calories are never absorbed by the body and so never convert to the stubborn fat deposits so many of us carry.  Of course, not too many good ol boys and their female equivalent are trolling the NYT website, or reading books on nutrition, so I doubt Ms. Nestle is doing much more than preaching to the choir.  However, she does make the point the fast food and value added industry don't want to have generally known, namely you can take control of what you put in your mouth and become healthier by doing so.  Also, she advocates a ban on all food advertising directed at children.  Of course that has as much chance of being acted on by Congress as we have of a snowstorm on the NCR today.  It will be 80 degrees and sunny today. 

Spring is Sprung

Like one of the exploding watches in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.  Upper 70s and low 80s for the next few days will have everyone twitter pated.  The muck soils are thawing rapidly and should be workable next week.  The heavier clay soils of the Champlain valley remain wet, but with no rain predicted and above normal temps for the next 10 days, even soils that normally aren't workable until May will have farmers dreaming of corn and soybeans.  I daresay the secret garden at home will be dry this weekend.  The arrival of the asparagus roots I ordered will probably dictate what activity occurs at home on Sat./Sun.  Fruit trees should also be arriving and will be a lot easier to plant than some years, when the excavated holes filled with water as fast as I could scoop it out, all in near freezing weather.  Even the wettest local golf course was hosting diehard golfers, although most of the sand traps were playing as water hazards.  Of course, the TV meteorologists play up the fantastic weather without analyzing the origins.  I guess the folks who are paying salaries don't want to get the public too worked up about the implications of the current heat wave.  Meanwhile, tornado alley continues to make the news and crazy weather becomes the norm.  Happy Spring.

springtime, or is it summer

Aside from a few snowy patches and a couple of holes with damaged greens, the local golf course was open and some of us got slightly sunburned playing on March 18.  The temperature reached 72 on the course, but as I drove back to Casa Monzeglio, the car thermometer dropped to 66 as I got nearer to Lake Champlain which moderated the air.  I think the water is still in the low 40s, so we will be seeing some foggy mornings as the record high temps persist through the week.  I planted spinach in the p.m. and we got a light shower overnight, so the gardening season is underway.  I can't remember an earlier start, even on Long Island.  The weather is beyond amazing, but I'm sure the American Enterprise Institute will tell us the next ice age is just around the corner and the media is just underreporting the evidence.  Pesky facts, they seem to show such a liberal bias.

a dry spring

Could be the harbinger of drier weather ahead.  With the temps predicted in the 70s next week and very little snowmelt, even the heavier soils of the Champlain valley will be workable very soon.  That's the good news.  The bad news is with less subsurface moisture, the soil will dry out sooner and drought stress will be more likely if the summer is as comparatively warm as this past winter.  That will be a problem for everything from alfalfa to zucchini, since very few farmers have the equipment or the resources to irrigate.  Certainly the corn and soybeans will be on their own in terms of moisture.  Even high value veg crops have traditionally been grown without irrigation, due to the heavy clay texture of the soil, which holds large amounts of water relatively high in the soil profile.  However, when these soils dry out, it takes an enormous amount of rain or irrigation to restore the balance.  Last summer cycled from very wet early to extremely dry during the heart of the growing season to very wet at the end.  It looks like another wild ride in 2012.  Welcome to the world of climate change.  As they say at the local china shop, "You broke it, you own it".

cost and consequences

The common wisdom is Americans spend less for food per capita than anyone in the world.  Of course, this does not take into account the enormous subsidies the government showers on the country's largest agri businesses.  Still, as my Canadian friends tell me, the staples like milk and bread are more than twice as expensive across the border.  That, along with the strong Canadian dollar is one of the reasons Quebec license plates dominate the parking lots in Plattsburgh every weekend.  Most of the time, vegetables are "cheaper than dirt" also.   Using only raw, unprocessed goods and doing all the processing and cooking yourself, the average family can probably eat for a week for a hundred dollarss.  Meanwhile, most shopping carts I see are filled with highly processed, value added stuff which will add to America's obesity statistics.  Then people complain their food budget does not go as far as it used to.  This is all tangental to the point I was trying to make.  Namely, that cheap food, like cheap gas is something American's take for granted, although they pay a high price for both commodities between government subsidies and the defense budget.  Perhaps if the real cost was added at the checkout counter, their would be more of an outcry for accountability.  Instead, we have political entertainers like Newt Gingrich telling us we should be paying $2.50/gallon for gas...

Beginnings

I swept the straw mulch off the garlic beds last night.  There was still a little ice here and there and only an occasional sprout poking above ground.  By Sunday I expect most of the cloves to have sent out shoots, as the temp is supposed to approach 70.  In ten years of gardening on the NCR, I have never seen a season this advanced before the Ides of March.   I remember predicting we will be planting palm trees here at some point, but I never expected the kind of weather we are having now.  Maybe not palms, but peaches are a definite possibility in the not too distant future.  Spinach is in the immediate future, as are some of the brassicas.  Time to get the cabbage, broccoli, and some of the lettuces started.  So much to do and so little time.

Long range planning

Be careful what you wish for, as you may get more than you bargained.  We had virtually no winter, and now it looks like no spring either.  The long range forecast for the next two weeks predicts most daytime temps in record territory and only a brief flirtation with freezing on a couple of nights.  These are mid to late May regimes.  Most farmers will be hard pressed to keep out of rapidly warming fields, since April could revert to a more normal scenario and sprouting crops could be nipped in the bud.  But what if this warm weather continues?  Several extra weeks of growing weather could enhance farmer's incomes, but will also add extra expenses.  Overwintered pests could cause larger than normal problems this year.  Late frosts could be more problematic than ever this year.  There will be many decisions made early this year which will have outsize implications for this and following seasons.  I wonder if years from now we will look back at this spring as the start of a totally new era for gardeners and farmers here and througout the lower 48.  Meanwhile, Europe and Russia are having one of the worst winters in decades.  What does it all mean?

St. Paddy's Day spring

Although the Vernal Equinox is several days after St. Patricks,it actually feels more like May here on the NCR.  We had a couple of inches of snow on Friday evening, but by Sunday morning, it was just a bad memory.  This morning's low of 32 is likely to be the low for the next 10 days or so.  NOAA says this is the fourth warmest winter since they started keeping records, but don't expect the climate change deniers to change their tune.  If a snowflake falls south of the Mason-Dixon line, Al Gore is an hysterical gasbag, but after this crazy winter in which more daily highs were eclipsed than ever, the deniers will be strangely quiet.  I will welcome the start of golf season this weekend, although the fact it is about 6 weeks earlier than normal will give me pause as I spray errant shots over the countryside.  The overwintered spinach looks good, and I will start the first plantings for spring crops this week.  It looks like the McBrides will be planting on St. Paddy's this year.   I hope the weather remains kind.

More war on Veg

I forgot to mention in the previous post regarding my suggestion for a Republican war on Veg, the obvious corollary.  Naturally, all right thinking democrats, independents and rogue republicans will increase their vegetable intake in retaliation to this latest jihad.  Besides, the repub base doesn't eat veg to begin with, so the net result will be a surge in consumption.  It's definitely a win/win.  Maybe Sandra Fluke will testify about the virtues of veg before a congressional committee.  I can already hear Rushbo start his rant.

Advice for Republicans

A slander on higher education doesn't seem to resonate with the American electorate.  The war on women's health care is certainly not doing it for them.  I have a suggestion for the co-drivers of the Republican clown car;  let's have a war on vegetables.  This crusade has at least two things going for it.  The vegetables can't fight back, and hating on veg might even appeal to some independents and democrats.  We know the racist, redneck base will be glad to join the war, as soon as someone explains what a vegetable is to them (it's that thing on the plate next to the steak).  But there are quite a few closeted veg haters in the country waiting for validation, so come on Mitt, Rick and Newt.  Let's get after the greens, which by their very color are an elitist pleasure that should be shunned by all right thinking Murcans.  Of course, certain All American creations like freedom fries, and maybe blooming onions in all their deep fat fried glory are exceptions to the rule that vegetables are a Kenyan, Muslim, socialist plot to keep America's digestive tract in turmoil.  Ron Paul can add a libertarian legitmacy to this war by warning of the tyranny of the USDA's food pyramid.  How dare government bureacrats dictate the American diet.  If you want to live on Pepsi and burgers, so be it.  What do you think, Republicans, or do you...

green shoots

It's bad when you look to the political world for euphemisms to descibe the produce business.  The cauliflower market is awake, with Cal. FOBs in the double digits for the first time in weeks, or maybe months.  I'm hoping this is a harbinger for other veg, specifically lettuce and celery.  Unfortunately, the latter two don't seem to be moving yet.  Meahwhile, we are in the 50s today with rain predicted.  A chilly weekend will give way to a full week of above freezing weather, so the mud season should be mercifully short this spring. 

Robins and other signs

A friend said she saw a tree full of robins last weekend.  These hardy harbingers of spring have been spotted on the NCR all winter, but they are arriving in larger numbers as the days lengthen.  My local flock of turkeys were out strutting their stuff on Monday and even took to the air when my hound growled at them.  The weather is definitely springlike today with blustery winds and temps in the 50s expected.  A warm rain and a week of 50-60 degree temps is expected next week, so the farmer within is awakening.  Time to get the straw off the garlic beds and clean up the asparagus.  Cutting the raspberry canes is also on the agenda, and the list will get longer as March procedes.  Meanwhile, the veg markets are still stuck in reverse for the most part as growers and shippers try to work through what will surely go down as one of the worst winter seasons ever.  The usual suspects will be blamed, too much acreage, a slack economy, chain store policies which focus on contracts instead of open market buying, etc.  The truth is probably a combination of these factors, along with the fact of America's latest generation being unwilling to spend the time to cook the bounty available to them.  Time will tell, but while I wait for the verdict, I'm going back to the garden.

The numbers game

Beyond This Horizon is the Heinlein novel I was channeling yesterday.  A mean and humbling vision of humanity which probably sounded like an interesting place to a teenage boy in the 60s, but not so much to a man in his 60s in the teens.  Speaking of numbers, today is 3/6/12, so something is bound to happen.  Hopefully the markets will wake up today.  Tuesday is traditionally the day to start loading for weekend delivery to eastern markets.  If there is any kind of demand, I look for increasing prices.  The CV is this thing won't change until the deals shift from the desert to Huron and Salinas, but the same thought process led shippers to plant way too many acres after the run up in prices last winter, so who is to say the oracles are right about this either.  The Republicans may have some clarity regarding their nominee after the numbers are in today, but I think a majority will be looking with distaste at Mittens as he begins to put some distance between himself and the rest of the clown car.  Numbers are also relevant to chief Republican entertainer Rush Limbaugh.  It seems 13 of his advertisers have bailed on his daily hatefest.  Even the stations which carry his misogynist spiel are starting to cancel, especially if their rating numbers are low.  Perhaps this marks a turning point in our national dialogue.

Deja vu all over again

If Yogi Berra is reading the headlines during the past couple of weeks, I'm sure he feels that way again.  The current outbreak of tornadoes in the heartland with increasing levels of devastation remind me of "Damnation Alley", a novel of an apocolyptic future where middle America is a wasteland dominated by killer storms.  The latest ruling from a court in Colorado allowing students who qualify to carry concealed handguns on the grounds of the state university puts me in mind of a novel by Robert Heinlein set in the not too distant future.  The premise is a "survival of the fittest" scenario where everyone who wants full citizenship must carry a weapon and be prepared to use it if provoked.  The provocation can be something as simple as an accidental contact.  If an apology is not forthcoming, the two settle up in true wild west fashion with the loser unable to contribute his genes to the next generation.  Those unwilling or unable to play this game are relegated to secondary status and must wear a badge of shame which entitles the citizens to mock them.  Sounds like we may be heading down that rabbit hole as I write this.

farm bills and veg business

It looks like a congressional hearing on the new federal farm bill is coming to Saranac Lake, NY in the next few weeks.  This is significant for a couple of reasons.  First, this area of the world is generally neglected in the distribution of federal pork, because the Northeast does not have the clout in the process that midwestern states do.  Farm state senators from N. Dakota to Texas focus like lasers on the legislation, since it is a priority for many of their voters and also the big contributors to their electoral success such as Cargill and ADM.  New York and the rest of the Northeast have many more concerns and farmers are just one in the cacophony of competing voices and are far from the loudest.  The other problem is the farmers here generally are small players in the big commodity crops like corn and soybeans which may not be glamorous, but command attention by their sheer number of acres.  Declining industries like dairy farms , representing small family farms struggle to be heard.  The veg industry in the Northeast is also mostly a small family enterprise, so there is little lobbying clout there.  Hopefully the exposure generated by this congressional appearance will spark some needed debate on the federal government's role in agriculture.

The long goodbye to GMO

According to NYT food blogger Marc Bittman, France has called for a ban on Monsanto's GMO corn.  For the uninitiated, GMO  stands for Genentically Modified Organism.   I think if proponents of said technology had to repeat the full moniker for these frankensteinian genetic splices there would be even less public support than there is now.  Most people intuitively realize that food scientists are playing with something more dangerous than fire as they dice and splice various genetic components in ways that nature never intended.  The European ag community has at least turned a sceptical eye on this hubris, but the American university system is a hostage of the Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont axis, as are the farm state senators. 

like a scrawny lion

was the beginning of March.  The winter storm turned into a couple of slushy inches here on the NCR.   We can only hope the month goes out as a chubby lamb.  Meanwhile, the skiing should be good for weekend warriors, even with a little rain predicted for Sat. morning.  Of course, other areas of the country are not faring nearly so well.  Tornadoes are in the offing throughout the midwest, and several communities have already had devastating visitations.  I have a feeling these outbreaks will become more frequent as climate change continues.  People will become inured to the constant barrage of photos of survivors combing the wreckage of their towns looking for personal effects.   The sci-fi author, Roger Zelazny wrote about an apocolyptic future America in which the heartland has been reduced to a howling no-man's land where gigantic storms have decimated the population and mutated people and animals fight for scraps, while the east and west coasts remain fairly normal.  It seemed pretty fantastic 40 years ago, but now...

Thursday White sale

Looks like a winter storm fizzle on the NCR.  We picked up about an inch of snow last night and it is trying to change to rain as I write this.  As per usual, the more a storm is hyped by the weather channel, the less likely it is to actually appear.  Instead, deadly tornadoes that were barely anticipated roared through flyover country leaving a trail of devastation.  It seems the tornado season starts a little earlier each year and the heavy duty twisters appear further and further from the traditional "tornado alley" area of Oklahoma and Texas.  Something to look forward to in the future.  In the produce world, Wednesday continued the lackluster performance of the last few weeks.  Prices for desert veg in the Southwest are off around 60% from last winter, and I think that does not include February figures which will probably push that to 70%.  There will be more than a few Salinas shippers returning to the valley with their tails between their legs.  If they modify their plantings for the summer and fall it would go a long way to restoring some sanity in the market.  Since growers and shippers can no longer count on wholesalers and chainstores to help move product at reasonable prices, self discipline is the only way to keep supply and demand in balance.  The insidious creep of extra acreage planted to honor cost plus contracts with processors and chains will be the death of growers in the long run.