produce placement

Listening to Bob Edwards on NPR this morning interviewing Morgan Spurlock of "Supersize Me" fame it occurred to me that produce placement is the next frontier of marketing.   Spurlock recently completed "Pom Wonderful, the Greatest Movie Ever Sold", which investigates tongue in cheek the wonderful world of product placement in television and the movies.  He told Edwards that even the supposed educational Channel 1 which is used in many schools sells advertising.  They have a captive audience of children who are being forced to watch advertisements as their teachers stand by helplessly.  At least they could be advertising carrots or kale.  Of course, the Pom Wonderful pomegranite drink is the focus of the movie, as well as Spurlock's #1 sponsor.  It makes all sorts of wild claims of enhancing sexual potency to reversing age related maladies and on and on.  However, on the eve of the movie's release, they were cited for misleading advertising.  Go figure.

wild weather

As we continue to deal with flooding here in upstate NY, it seems a little churlish to complain when the weather channel keeps showing scenes of utter devastation in the South.  I don't know what the crazy weather will do to agriculture in Alabama and Georgia, but I doubt the effects will be as lasting as the damage to the psyches of the people who were living the American dream one second and now are experiencing a nightmare of Dickensien proportions as they look for loved ones who died in the storms.

After the deluge

Every river in the North Country of upstate New York is at or above flood stage, and Lake Champlain is reclaiming low lying areas along its shoreline.  And still the rains come.  Most of the cropland visible from Rte. 87 on a recent drive to the Canadian border from Plattsburgh was either underwater or so saturated it made no difference.  It will be May next week and the long range forecast is for showers through the middle of next week.  Farmers need the heavy soils here in the Champlain valley to begin drying before the middle of May, or many crops will be delayed.  My own gardens which are reasonably well drained are barely workable, and constant rain and cool temperatures will rot most seed before it germinates.  Even the trees are holding back, waiting for a real taste of spring before releasing their tightly held buds.  In farming, as in life, timing is everything.  I hope Mother Nature gets in sync with the season shortly, or the local veg deal will get very interesting.

oil and veg inflation

A commentator on  NPR allowed that he did not feel the effects of inflation were being measured accurately because the so called "volatile" indexes for food and fuel were not being taken into account...duh!   We live in a society addicted to cheap oil and we take it for granted, until the price shoots up and all the expenses cheap oil holds down come to light.  As a produce broker, and a tiny farmer, I can tell you petroleum is intimately involved in every aspect of farming.  From the oil required to deliver the seed, heat the greenhouse, run the tractor, produce the fertilizer, harvest and cool the crop, produce the packaging for the crop, move the crop to market, and on and on.  The cost of sending a tractor trailer load of produce from California to Boston has gone from $5000. to $8,000. in the last three months and some experts are predicting the price will rise to $10,000 or more this summer.  At that point the transport cost will exceed the cost of most of the produce being transported! These are  stuff of nightmares for politicians.

Driving into spring

360 miles is all it takes to drive from a dreary post winter imitation spring to the real thing.  I got up a 3 am on Tuesday and drove from Peru, NY to Cream Ridge, NJ to see a supplier and a customer.  It was raining and 50 degrees when I left and 80 and sunny on my arrival.  The trees were leafed out or blooming, the spring crop of spinach looks outstanding and summer feels like a promise, not a mirage.  Unfortunately, I had to get back into the car, drive 360 miles north to more rain and 50 degrees.  At least I have first hand observations to back up the calendar's promise.

Peas, Parsley and perserverance

Planted peas and parsley on Easter Sunday.  I probably should have planted them two weeks ago, but I doubt it would have done much good, since the weather has been so brutal.  The local crows were sitting in the trees bordering the garden, doubtlessly applauding my efforts at increasing their food supply, but I disappointed them by covering the completed efforts with remay cloth.  They will have to look elswhere for a snack.  Which leads to the third p in the title of this post.  Anyone involved in agriculture, from a modest micro farmer like myself to the largest corn and soybean growers in the midwest knows they will be tested from the moment they put seeds in the ground until the last bushel or tote is harvested.  Staying vigilant and perservering will not guarantee a bountiful harvest, but not doing so ensures failure.

Easter renewal

Having done the Catholic school thing from grades 1-8, Easter is burned into my DNA.  From Sister Esther in first grade to Sister Therese Rosaire in 8th, my fellow sufferers and I were hammered with the crucifixion and the resurrection from the first Sunday in Advent, through the holy days until the glorious event.  Little did I know that almost every major religion has a hero who sacrifices his life for his people and is resurrected as an example of what prayer (and a little gelt for the religious authorities) can do for you.  And naturally, this rite takes place with spring as the backdrop.  The earth comes back to life after winter, etc.  I think the Jesus who actually lived, as opposed to the one who is forced upon us, would be horrified to see what the average evangelical megachurch is espousing in his name on this holiest of Sundays.