Simply put, your skilled reporting revealed something I felt was relevant to my audience and so I reported on it. I feel I am well within my rights of fair use, and that I might have even exposed your work to a new audience of potential subscribers. Is there something in particular bothering you about my reporting? It was not my intention to upset you.

I’m also digging the bashing of “big -ag” for hiring a PR group. What the hell do you think Walmart does?? What the hell do you think Michael Pollan or Oprah do?? It’s all about image and it’s time for us to wake up to that fact. Ask any friend of yours in marketing – it’s all about spin and everyone does it. Our responsibility as careful and mindful consumers is to learn how to look past that spin and find the facts for ourselves. You have to read more than the papers and the blogs, you actually need to delve in to the scientific journals before you can really see who is putting what kind of spin out there.

I don’t think it’s fair to stand here and bash “big-ag” while patting Walmart on the back. “Big-ag” is actually not that big. Sure, there are some GINORMOUS industrial set-ups out there but you have to be careful about who you call out and who you bash because when you lump all of agriculutre into one group and then base your assumptions of the way they do their work or their business by the GINORMOUS corporate entities you’re cutting of your nose to spite your face.

We have to eat, folks, and causing the farmers to go out of business just so you can feel better about yourselves is not going to turn out very well. There are consequences to all our actions, make sure you’re ready to deal with those that we’re putting in place.

This could inspire some creative grassroots reactions. Come on artists, let’s work together to throw this back in their faces! All we need is to speak the truth, straight from the earth to our hearts/pens/cameras/paintbrushes/guitars.

I’ma get workin’ on that right now.

Thanks for the heads-up! Nothing is more satisfying to analyze and riff on than a blatantly sinister ad-campaign.

So, one of the farmers was talking about Walmart’s practices. The “local” movement they are boasting about wants the farmer to guarantee they will deliver to all the stores in a certain area. One of the local apple farmers figured it out, he would never get to all 30 stores in a weeks time. They only want a few boxes at each store. The current system has the apples delivered to Kentucky or Tennessee, then distributed through their trucks back to whence they came. There are going to be huge flaws with their “local” program. If you are late one time, you do not get paid in 30 days, you will get paid within 6 months. How’s that for keeping you afloat.

In the horticultural industry, a grower does not get paid until the consumer makes the purchase. They call it Vendor Managed Inventory. So, you deliver the product, let it sit there, they don’t water it and then if you are lucky it gets sold. Now you if the consumer returns it, you are liable for that too.

Seems fair, doesn’t it?