On the Johnnie's-Stokes seed deal- we are probably barking up the wrong tree.
My first experience with this kind of commercial irony was expecting Whole
Foods Market Inc, ( 1.4 Billion sales annually, publically traded, Austin, TX,
HQ) to act like my little local Wheatsville Coop. Reality Check.Whole Foods
CEO John Mackey and John Johnston of Johnnies are business people who mined a
nice deep niche. They sell organic food and sell seed to organic farmers. They
can sell whatever they want.
By such caginess, Johnnie is keeping all his bets on the table. I figure he is
not in a position to know all that there is to know about GMOs-but he is
getting there. He made a tactical error by not commiting. We make an error by
thinking he is obligated to commit just because he uses the word "organic" a
few times in his catalogue. Don't go hunting strawberries in a parking lot.
When I enter the sanctified portals of Whole Foods Market, I am usualy greeted
by about 15 linear feet of conventional apples selling at 30% higher than the
same apples down at Albertson's. Go Mackey, Go. Hype that empty promise all
the way to the bank. Don't go hunting Ghandi in a whorehouse.
Figuratively speaking.
If we feel cheated because those who we have given tons of cash to do not cop
to the GMO fiasco, drop them. I will try, but we are getting surrounded. I
have been burned and abused so many times by Whole Foods that I will not shop
there again. I may plead with the Team Leader to let me post an anti-GMO
broadside at the info booth, but those people are living in Stepford City.
Their tactics in store location are legendary. They usually move in and pick
off a coop, then fire the union workers. The weird thing is the management
says they have empowered all the minions to make decisions, but the minions
walk around with rearview mirrors firmly on their heads because someone higher
up may be coming down the aisle.
I sold certified organic produce to Whole Foods by freight from 1987-90 and
directly delivered from 1990-95. Then they said I was too big and had to get
in line behind the semi-trucks. Later.
I bought seed from Johnnie's from 1983 to 1997. But now where do I go. Nobody
does green commerce like Johnny, except Territorial, Seeds of Change, Garden
City, Peace Seeds,Peaceful Valley, FEDCO.....Will they have the prohibitions
on GMOs that we expect of Johnny? I think some will. Johnny was instrumental
in growing up the small market organic farmer system, offering not just unique
seeds for the gourmet trade but 5 gallon sprayers and Earthway seeders and
Coleman hoes. I wrote last year that his market may implode if he don't do
right. We'll see.
Consolidation is king in this trade. The players are becoming fewer and fewer.
Asgrow? That's spelled, MONSANTO, now. And remember, just because it comes in
a pack from Pure As The Driven Snow, Inc, that doesn't mean they didn't dip
the seed out of some barrel from Valmorin, Peto, Takii or Sakata, all of whom
are GMOing the devil out of the genomes. End of rant.
If you want more videos, use "bullfrog films" as a search term on the engine.
Also, write to fred@acresusa.com and ask Fred Walters to send you his "Video
Theater" listing of videos to buy. ACRES runs a nonstop theater at our
conferences, and the suppliers contact info is on the Menu. And if you want
hard-hittin' organic advocacy and straight shootin' antiGMO info delivered to
your home, susbcribe. End of advertisment.
How about an organic farmer seed cooperative? Grown for and sown by organic
farmers. Farmers Cooperative Genome Project and OFMA are on the trail of that
one, along with many other orgs.
Steve Sprinkel
Headed to Ames, Iowa
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