Prices of Produce, Fruit and Other Foods

[mike]

The grower made this comment?

It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure it was usually the buyers that brought that up. And he didn't deny it.

Farmers are supposed to work for free and be homeless?

yep that was my point for sure.

No really, he was known as the best tomato grower at the market and there was a reason we were happy to build him a nice place.

[Ken]

It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure it was usually the buyers that brought that up. And he didn't deny it.

Farmers are supposed to work for free and be homeless?

yep that was my point for sure.

No really, he was known as the best tomato grower at the market and there was a reason we were happy to build him a nice place.

I just fail to see how a farmer building a house with his farm earnings is in any way even worth commenting on. I mean I get the joke about the high price of tomatoes. But that kind of thing kind of rubs me the wrong way. A random farmer doesn't have any kind of monopoly and, is therefore, unable to exploit anyone.

When I was a kid we had a small cherry orchard and my brothers and I would sell cherries at a roadside stand. We'd get grown adults driving nice cars trying to chisel us down. A couple of kids. It was annoying.

[mike]

Farmers are supposed to work for free and be homeless?

yep that was my point for sure.

No really, he was known as the best tomato grower at the market and there was a reason we were happy to build him a nice place.

I just fail to see how a farmer building a house with his farm earnings is in any way even worth commenting on. I mean I get the joke about the high price of tomatoes. But that kind of thing kind of rubs me the wrong way. A random farmer doesn't have any kind of monopoly and, is therefore, unable to exploit anyone.

When I was a kid we had a small cherry orchard and my brothers and I would sell cherries at a roadside stand. We'd get grown adults driving nice cars trying to chisel us down. A couple of kids. It was annoying.

I can assure you it's not that complicated. It could be that your life experience is far enough removed from a group of produce farmers and buyers who work together in business for years that the humor we share isn't immediately obvious.

[ken_sylvania]

yep that was my point for sure.

No really, he was known as the best tomato grower at the market and there was a reason we were happy to build him a nice place.

I just fail to see how a farmer building a house with his farm earnings is in any way even worth commenting on. I mean I get the joke about the high price of tomatoes. But that kind of thing kind of rubs me the wrong way. A random farmer doesn't have any kind of monopoly and, is therefore, unable to exploit anyone.

When I was a kid we had a small cherry orchard and my brothers and I would sell cherries at a roadside stand. We'd get grown adults driving nice cars trying to chisel us down. A couple of kids. It was annoying.

I can assure you it's not that complicated. It could be that your life experience is far enough removed from a group of produce farmers and buyers who work together in business for years that the humor we share isn't immediately obvious.

Perhaps it's just the unresolved trauma from childhood experience....

[Ernie]

Green beans are bringing anywhere from $25-40 per half bushel these days.

Wholesale?

[mike]

Green beans are bringing anywhere from $25-40 per half bushel these days.

Wholesale?

Yes

[mike]

Just for the sake of interest, here's a recent market report from Leola Produce Auction. Not the one I attend, but similar. https://leolaproduce.com/report/

Here was their range on green beans:
Beans (Green & Yellow) box 21.00 to 46.00

[Ernie]

Just for the sake of interest, here's a recent market report from Leola Produce Auction. Not the one I attend, but similar. https://leolaproduce.com/report/

Here was their range on green beans:
Beans (Green & Yellow) box 21.00 to 46.00

Those $46 ones were $92 a bushel? Wow!

[mike]

Just for the sake of interest, here's a recent market report from Leola Produce Auction. Not the one I attend, but similar. https://leolaproduce.com/report/

Here was their range on green beans:
Beans (Green & Yellow) box 21.00 to 46.00

Those $46 ones were $92 a bushel? Wow!

Correct. At that price, they are not likely being retailed in bulk. A half bushel is about 12 pounds, so the cost per pound is around $3.83. Stores would probably be selling these by the pound.

It's not unusual for beans to be at that price in early season. Usually they drop off by now, but I suspect the crop is a little short due to heat/drought. Often growers don't really bother to irrigate beans. They are a product that is painstaking to pick by hand. There are large farms that machine pick, but they leave a lot of stem and small beans attached. Hand-picked green beans are much better. But they take a lot of time.

[temporal1]

August 8.
i noticed fall-themed breakfast cereal on shelves (pumpkin-spiced) .. then, halloween T-shirts displayed, too.
Boo