<x-tad-smaller>Hi Rivka,</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller>I think you and I agree that organic probably fits best with small growers who market their own stuff, or possibly large growers in very low pest pressure areas. However I would disagree competition at the grocery store is against "insipid strains of Red and Gold Delicious." That may have been true at one time, but the consumer, at least around here has appeared to wise up. At one of the grocers where we shop, you can't even get Red Delicious anymore. The other carries Red Delicious, but they are always the cheapest, and from the look of them (old and soft looking), nobody is buying them. They have been replaced by the new more flavorful varieties-Honeycrisp, Fuji, Pink Lady, Gala, Braeburn, and some others.
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<x-tad-smaller>Now the consumer has choices, and seems to be choosing the better flavored apples. This is going to be a challenge for the organic grower.</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller>One other thing on farm diversity. I'm not against it, but it can be difficult to make it work nowadays. I'm not talking about having cattle and row crops. That works generally because there is little capital equipment (relatively speaking) in cattle. But real diversity, the kind our forefathers used to practice, is quite at a disadvantage unless you can direct market your product. The reason is many people don't realize just how much economies of scale add to efficiency. In modern farming capital equipment costs (driven by the high cost of labor) make up a huge piece of the cost pie. Every time you double the yield, or amount of acres farmed, you halve the equipment cost per output. So small operations find it harder and harder to compete (even with the best management) with large operations that have "built in" cost efficiencies from economy of scale.
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<x-tad-smaller>Modern apple producers sell their product for 10 to 20% the cost of retail. It's going to be extremely difficult for a small producer to compete with that pricing structure. They can only compete by selling their product themselves. My point is that a small diversified organic farm is probably only going to fit in niche markets. But I guess you said the same thing, "It's not going to work for every operation."</x-tad-smaller>
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