hello john,
At 11:25 AM 3/17/00 -0600, Wilson, Dale wrote:
>>Trouble is, I don't believe most organic consumers care if those pears they
>>are picking up were produced in Argentina or down the street, as long as
>>they are legitimately organic.
and you answered:
>At the recent Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, most
>producers I spoke with said they are not organic, and do not intend to
>be. However, there seems to be a very solid community of interest among
>small producers involved in local-regional food systems, whether they are
>organic or not.
but YOU speak of producer wishes, while DALE is talking about
consumer wishes... this often makes a difference.
does the preferences of producers say much about consumer desires ?
very often not, they sell, what their fathers and their father's
father already sold and wonder, why consumers do not get
enthusiastic about it.
one example:
a car retailer a year ago bought 20 cars of all colors from his
company. he all sold them except 3 ugly yellow cars he cannot get
rid of. finally he mangaged (with lots of talking and a heavy price
rebate) to sell them in one week. what message will he give to the
car manufacturer ? one might be: 3 yellow cars sold in the last
week. reaction of the manufacturer: "boyz, we immediately need
to force the output of our yellow cars. there is a clear
tendency out there: consumers seem to be crazy about getting one of
them."
our successful farmers are these, who leave this path of their
fathers and start trying new things one small step after the next
small step. in simple words: they experiment and feel the consumers
for their desires. so otherwise than in the usual industry (who
mostly CREATES desires by PR) they save a lot of PR costs..
ok, you are correct insofar, as we are not so dumb to transport
heavy-weight fruits like potatoes from our region to
northern europe, but we do this for example with our asparagus,
cauliflower and our early radishes. we simple have the favorous
rhine climate here, fruits are ripening very early and we would be
dumb, if we would not use this advantage. by transporting over
several hundred miles to north germany and scandinavia in early
spring we can get 2- 3 times the price we get here locally....
regards,
klaus
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