Officials say cutting 50,000 tons of peaches from production could prevent $30m in losses for farmers
I hate this capitalist shit-hole.
Oversupply would make them more expensive to harvest than they're worth, I'd bet. And the federal grant money to clear the orchards means the land can be put to other use.
That's economics, not capitalism. Dont you dare stop hating capitalism though.
Oversupply needs diversion of that supply to other uses - not destruction of established production.
It takes years to establish a productive fruit tree. If the land is really more valuable producing plums or apricots instead of peaches, then, sure, migrate it over slowly. Wholesale destruction with the assumption "the land will be put to better use" is the kind of bullshit that (all too rarely) gets laws and regulations passed to stop it.
If there are too many peaches for local markets, export. If the whole world is drowning in whole peaches, juice 'em.
Yes! I was looking for this comment. I live smack in California central valley. Farms here flex continuously with a multitude of crops. Strawberry, walnuts, cherry, and almond are top long-runners. There are also so many unexpected other high value crops here; like blueberry, spinach, sugar beet, olives, garlic, pistachios, etc.
Del Monte was only one processor. But every one of their factories continues on doing something else that's currently in abundance here.
If local market isn't demanding, one final attempt is the export market. We are currently doing this with alfalfa (hay), rice, and wine.
And on a final fruit note, pears are slowly following the fate of peaches. Dont know why. Currently Brazil and Mexico just make 'em better.
It sounded like another aspect of all that was that Del Monte may have partially or wholly roped them in to exclusive supply deals, cutting way down on their ability to deal with other potential canners or whatnot.
When farmer Craig Watts did his exposé on Purdue, it sounded a lot like a share-cropping / coal-mining situation, in which the chicken farmers had little real autonomy, and became super-reliant on Purdue for everything. Doesn't sound quite as bad in this Del Monte situation, but some similarities hit me.
You are absolutely correct, and I should have considered that aspect.
Harvest it. Turn it into canned peaches. Finish the harvest. Export it to places where peaches aren't that common. ???. Profit.
The cannery closed. That's why this is happening.
🎵 Peaches come from a can
🎵 They were put there by a man
Yeah, no, that's literally capitalism.
As soon as you start worrying about profits with respect to feeding people, you're talking about capitalism.
"More expensive than their worth" here means "I can't sell them for enough of a profit."
That's purely capitalism. If we only cared about making sure everyone's need for food is met, the sentence above would be complete nonsense.
Ah yes. What a wonderfully efficient system capitalism is. So very good at utilizing resources.
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
Is that Grapes of Wrath?
Edit: I should have read to the end :) I must give that another read.
Apparently it's the Oranges of Kerosene. ;-)
Capitalism would prefer people to starve if it is the surest way to protect profits.
Meanwhile rent is going up? Oil is more expensive? What an absolute shit show. Imagine getting paid to destroy production to keep profit margins up, god forbid anyone got a cheap peach.
What, and let corporations hold the bag? Are you high? /s
Peaches of wrath
Why not give them away to homeless people? Homeless people are often hungry, and would certainly not regret eating 30 to 40 peaches.
apparently they spoil very quickly if not frozen immediately, if there is no market they cant do anything witht ehpeaches. also the trees will attract alot of pests if its left unattended.
That (in their view) would be even worse, then peaches would become associated with the homeless and lose even more value!
The issue is that the idea of destroying product to protect its value is counter to anything good or reasonable.
Cost to harvest peaches to freely give to homeless dudes: very non-zero
Cost to burn peach trees: zero
Never put all your peaches in one basket.
We can't predict the future but I'm in the camp that if we collectively get our shit together food will stop being a "everything I want now and always" to "eat what is local and in season first"
Very good plan, fully support it. However, you must then deal with he fact that this company (whoever destroyed the trees) is destroying the viability of the entire region by destroying food production. It should be regarded as terrorism.
Might want to wait until after the global supply chain breaks down again before making this decision.
I heard in the original post that these peaches suck and that's why del monte is having problems. I'm all for saving trees, but if we're going to replace them with trees people want I'm all for that.
Yeah, I read something about that, too. These were bred to grow fast, look good in the store, and last long on the shelf. Flavor was one of the least considered traits.
i mean i'm from the area. ish. remember the whole boycott USA thing? we have the best damn peach ranch (don't ask me why peaches get ranches and strawberries get farms) about five miles down the road. i just damn near had a heart attack because their social media's last post was a memoriam for a family member and i thought they sold the farm. the boycott is why they're struggling, not the peaches.
Millions of peaches? Peaches for free?
Grapes of Wrath 2 has been moved to Mexico
2Grapes2Wrath
Damn. I love peaches*. Peaches and cream ice cream is mad delicious. Had a dessert once, ages ago, where the peaches were set on fire for a short bit. Also crazy good.
Peaches lovers unite. Let’s go score some delicious peaches before they are burned away!
Serious question, how does cutting the trees save money vs not harvesting them? Aside from the handout money.
In the words of a favorite skit of mine: Let’s Pickle em!
Ah! I hadn't heard about Del Monte. That's a loss. I may only be buying store brands these days, but still, they've been a staple during my lifetime. I hope this is not the harbinger to further damage to our food chain - food is already expensive right now.
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