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.