Fresh or not, that is a question

I did not realize Del Monte is acually two companies.  Fresh Del Monte, which sells fresh unprocessed fruits and vegetables and Del Monte, the company which sells canned and preserved fruits and veggies are now fighting over the right to put up what the casual consumer would call fresh fruits put up in plastic tubs in the produce department.  Personally, I would call it an open and shut case.  Fresh fruit that is minimally processed and refrigerated is fresh.  The Del Monte company begs to differ and now the lawyers will make money while everyone else loses.  Meanwhile, growers of fresh produce are losing every day, as the glut of veg and fruits continue to depress pricing and grower returns.  It will take a mighty leap of faith to plant lettuce, celery, broccoli, etc. in the face of the markets we have experienced for the last four months.  Fortunately for consumers, farmers are a hardy optimistic lot who generally ignore prices when they are low and obsess when they are high, especially when their own crops are involved.  In the produce industry of my youth, growers would be well advised to plant more acreage of crops bringing low returns, since most of their fellows would see the prices and plant less.  In today's global market, the minute prices start to spike in the US, the market is flooded with product from other areas and prices tumble.  Frankly, I would advise large scale growers to contract a major portion of their crop and play on the margins.  However, that is the model most California growers have adopted over the past 25 years with decidely mixed results.