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Subject: Market Farming

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: BBGREGSON AT cs.com
  • To: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Organic vs, ???
  • Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 00:54:07 EDT


The comments from Del Williams about General Motors and others losing sight
of what the market is thinking reminded me of something similar I heard just
after joining Ford in Detroit in 1972. As repeated from someone present at
the meeting: At a meeting of top management, one of the people brought up the
fact that some small Japanese cars called Datsun and Toyota were starting to
sell a bit in California and might become a threat since people really liked
their size, gas mileage, zip, etc...and maybe Ford should focus more on
improving the lackluster Pinto? The CEO reportedly then said, "We make just
a few hundred dollars on every Pinto we sell, and a thousand or more on our
regular size cars. Why work on the Pinto? We'll just stop any threat from
Japanese imports in Congress, if it comes to that."

The rest is history, as they say. The US manufacturers got wiped for at
least the next decade and Chrysler almost went under. Does that sound a
little like current ag policy and thought process????!!! Arrogance and no
attention to what the market is saying is a dangerous combination.

There may be a bright side to the big picture (just occurred to me): as the
US govt avoids supporting organic and sustainable ag in this country, they
are allowing those sectors of ag to learn and grow in other areas of the
world. Thus "local ag" may have a chance to get well established overseas
before the Big American Ag Inc. organic juggernaut reaches them in the next
decade or two. Maybe our govt. is unwittingly doing a favor to the smaller
scale organic/sustainable ag community in some parts of the world that are
getting very serious about this issue?

Bob Gregson
Vashon, WA



  • Organic vs, ???, BBGREGSON, 04/25/2001

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