> It would seem that what market is lost in year-round availability
> for a crop like pineapples could be at least partially recouped in
> higher prices when the fruit *is* available.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true. When fruit from naturally induced
flowers is available, the price has dropped due to the large supply and
what you wind up with is a lot of canned and frozen pineapple. There's
too much out there for the fresh market to absorb it. On the other hand,
the quality of that fruit is much higher, without having required the
quantities of inputs that induced flowering fruit does to produce a
decent if not quite equal product.
Another problem is that the major growing area is this country produces
little else in the way of cash crops - meaning that while admittedly
there's too much mono-cropping being done, there's not much else that
will grow and do well there that's exportable.
Maybe the real problem is that there are too many people in the world and
they're in the wrong places. How about making the best of what we've
got, while we're working on other and more ideal but loooooong term
"solutions". (Do you think I too could get a paying job philosophizing)?
I happen to agree but..... maybe man's role is to extend natural
conditions just a little bit further (irrigate land, etc.), There are
admittedly trade offs though.
What is it that triggers flowering? I'm told it's short days. Could it
be a set of conditions that tells the plant that what it needs is now in
place? (if so, that may be recreateable, with a little help from us,
their friends).
(nothing follows)
> Howdy, all--
>
> Douglas Hinds wrote:
>
> > Pineapple tend to flower natuarally only during 3-4 months a year.
> > In order to grow and provide organic pineapple during a more
> > prolonged period, it is necessary to induce the plant to flower
> > using a non synthetic source of (I would think) ethylene, which
> > can be disolved in water using activated charcoal. Can anybody
> > provide any information or ideas regarding a practical solution to
> > this problem? (Producing certifiably organic fruit over a longer
> > time frame).
>
> Welllllll. Perhaps aligning our tastes and demands with what the
> plant can provide would be reasonable. And returning the pineapple to
> its status as a seasonal fruit. Am I correct in recalling that they
> come from clonal germplasm and cannot be bred, therefore cannot be
> bred for a longer season?
>
> Just my two cents. Perhaps not helpful...but I'm thinking a lot these
> days about the misspending of our agricultural brain capital, and the
> potential consequences of that.
>
> I.e., letting consumer demand and markets (another form of exclusive
> focus on profits) drive everything is a short-sighted strategy. And
> we in sustag and organic ag have fallen into that mentality...while
> ignoring some crucial infrastructure issues that need attention.
> More in upcoming weeks, paisans.
>
> It seems to me that one of the lessons of organic production should
> be to return consumers to some realism about where food comes from,
> rather than trying to provide them with all the luxuries to which
> they have become accustomed in the industrial food system.
>
> It would seem that what market is lost in year-round availability
> for a crop like pineapples could be at least partially recouped in
> higher prices when the fruit *is* available. I don't see how we in
> sustag/orgag can compete with the industrial food system in terms of
> titillating people's consumer desires, then providing products for
> that. But I do think that we can help give them what they really need
> and want. Like healthy food and reconnection with the seasons.
>
> peace
> misha
>
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> Michele Gale-Sinex, communications manager
> Center for Integrated Ag Systems
> UW-Madison College of Ag and Life Sciences
> Voice: (608) 262-8018 FAX: (608) 265-3020
> http://www.wisc.edu/cias/
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Pressure? Pressure was when I was a shoeshine boy
> trying to make it to America. --Sammy Sosa
>
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--Douglas M. Hinds, Director General Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural A.C. (CeDeCoR) (Center for Community and Rural Development) - (non profit) Petronilo Lopez No. 73 (Street Address) Apdo. Postal No. 61 (Mailing Address) Cd. Guzman, Jalisco 49000 MEXICO U.S. Voice Mailbox: 1 630 300 0550 (e-mail linked) U.S. Fax Mailbox: 1 630 300 0555 (e-mail linked) Tel. & Fax: 011 523 412 6308 (direct) e-mail: dmhinds@acnet.net, dhinds@ucol.mx, cedecor@acnet.net, cedecor@ipnet.com.mx
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