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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Re:Food quality

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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Jay Gee" <jaygee AT jghelp.com>, "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Re:Food quality
  • Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 08:01:40 -0600

>If local NJ peaches can't hold their own against California
>peaches, either the product or the marketing of the product
>is deficient. A good local product has a much better story
>to tell than an import when it is handled correctly.
>jay gee
>not a farmer -- but interested in farming

I think you're missing the point Jay, probably because you're not in the
business. It isn't that "local NJ peaches can't hold their own". It's that
consumers aren't given a choice. They have to buy California peaches because
that's the only thing in the market. Why? Because produce buyers for big
distributors want the cheapest product from the fewest sources. They want
fewer accounts and the most profitable ones. Quality is never figured in,
except for "shrinkage", which is how much produce get's thrown out from the
stores collectively. And don't believe for a minute that California peaches
are "better". They are emphatically NOT better. They are hard as a rock and
will not ripen. They have no flavor. They are horrible. Quality is not a
part of the equation because free choice for the consumer is not an option
in the supermarket.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center





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