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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> I'm not attempting to offer a satisfactory explanation of it, but it seems in
> my experience that the lightest and most effortless thing eaten directly on
> the farm takes on leaden shoes when it walks past our gate.

Specialty produce operations need solid funding, motivated and very 
hard working people, and an educated, sophisticated nearby market. 
That market  must be consistent. The produce grower must be 
consistent. Both are very hard to accomplish. The mega-competition 
has perfected the process over many decades and consumers have become 
conditioned to the convenience of walking into a store and finding 
just what they want. And, yes, most of the time they just pay 
whatever the price is or make some substitution.

In Forbes Magazine, April 24, 2006, in an article titled "Shelf Life" 
that relates the new technological tricks to keep food "fresh" for 
astounding periods of time (deli meat for 120 days), there is this:
"Of the 460 billion spent in supermarkets each year, only a sliver 
goes to farmers. The farmer's share of a loaf of bread is 5% of the 
retail price and 7% of the price of a can of tomatoes. The rest is 
eaten up by processing, packaging, shipping, advertising and 
retailing.As packaging gets more exotic, the downstream costs will 
probably capture an even larger share of the pie."

I, too, have attempted the farmer's market enterprise. Today I would 
far sooner compost my excess garden products.