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market-farming - RE: On Marketing - On Topic - On GMOs

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  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: On Marketing - On Topic - On GMOs
  • Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 19:25:11 -0500


jay gee wrote:
> GMO marketers have generally asked the question,
> "Will farmers buy this new product?" when they should
> have been asking, "Is this product absolutely as safe
> as the products which are out there now?" and,
> "Will end users risk their own health or the health
> of their families and/or primary customer constituencies
> if anything is later discovered to be problematic with
> these products?"

I think the problem is that the creators of GMO's were and are blinded
toward any downside. They honestly do not think it is possible that there
could ever be any serious problems. Similarly, with farmers who use GMO's
and promote them. The positives so greatly outweigh the negatives that GMO's
are a no-brainer.

Like all other techological advancements in agriculture, GMO's are another
new tool. Remember that whoever is the early adopter of new technology (that
actually delivers), is the one with the lowest COP. And keeping the spread
as wide as possible between your costs and your selling price per input of
labor and materials, is what determines who can remain farming, just like
any other commodity business. Also, never forget that the average price of
commodities will always be approximately the break even cost of the average
commodity producer. So half will lose money and half will make money. This
can never ever change, nor do we want it to change. Witness the prices of
computers:)

> People don't see safe the same way a corporation does
> because individuals have limited life spans. Individuals
> also have "common sense," something that no company
> has ever manifested. Common sense often dictates
> caution when uncertainty about safety is an issue.

This is way extreme. Most companies exhibit a great deal of common sense.
Those that do not, are history. So I would have to respectively disagree
with your assessment. People make up businesses. Just because someone
incorporates doesn't automatically change the way they think. Most
corporations have the best minds in strategic planning and execution.

> FARMERS are fools if they trust a corporation to
> tell them that a product is safe, without demanding
> a money back and lost revenues guarantee if the
> new product grown is not accepted in the marketplace.
> If the seed seller is not willing to do that, the logical
> conclusion is that they do not stand behind their
> product.

What is this constant demonization of "corporations." It is as if they are
the devil on this list.

As you surely know, there are been serious repercussions with some GMO crops
in terms of export. But no one can or will guarantee a product like that
since the risk is just too high.

> FARMERS must realize that they are marketers first,
> not growers first -- and that their primary marketing
> decision is what to grow, who to sell it to and why
> are they the ready market, not what can be grown
> that produces the highest yield per acre.

Farmers definitely are NOT marketers. That is why they are farmers in the
first place. The kind of folks who farm are generally more introverted and
not people oriented folks. That is a big attraction for them. Work with
machines, crops, livestock, and no people.

Ironically, that is changing rapidly as we go toward a much more
concentrated agriculture with very few farmers. As commodity agriculture
(90+% of agriculture) continues to evolve, the farmer will be more of a
people manager and the ones who do the farming work will be employees.

The exception to the above are the niche marketers such as ourselves who try
to avoid the commodity markets as much as we can. But we can do that because
we do not make our total living from farming activities. We are still
operating at a loss after six years. I think you would be very hard pressed
to find someone making a reasonable self employed income from farming
operations that does not have employees. They may or may not be
incorporated.

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Dairy heifers and dairy beef graziers
Viroqua, WI

www.mistyridgefarm.com






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