Things are expensive

I've been an accountant for cranberry farms for 45 years. Ocean Spray is a co operative owned by its farmer members and is an interesting combination of capitalism and socialism. For all except about 10 of those years the growers have done very well if they produced at or above their peer group average. That is not to say there hasn't been lots of room for improvement but I'd argue a fair amount of the co op's mistakes have come from paying too much attention to the under performing members who screamed the loudest about being under paid. The cranberry industry issues are as complicated as any economic issues but as is generally the case, if you outperform your peer group you will do well. If you under perform there is no safety net that will or should make you whole.

The recipe for inflation has been cooking for a long time. The only surprise should be how long it has simmered before boiling over.

Dave
 
Janderso said:
What a racket.
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Tell me about it. And the gov't supports them, not the little guy. So our family forbids any O.S. products into our house.
Big deal, they'll never feel it but it makes us feel better. LOL
 
O.S. the co-op that would spend 3 years filling it's freezers around the country with fruit so that on the fourth year they dump all the fruit on the market and nose dive the prices.. so that the farmers who had signed contracts for a certain dollar value and borrowed money based on that contract were then forced into bankruptcy, over a 10 or 12 year period many small farms were forced under. Then O.S. creates a 3 tiered program for payment.. if you are considered a "original member" you can get between 50 to 60 dollars a barrel.. the next level is targeted to get 30 to 40 dollars a barrel, lastly is the "contracted grower" you cannot really ever be a "member" you are just good enough to get 16 to 22 bucks a barrel.. They keep stringing you along because in lean years they need the fruit to meet their demand. In the 80's & 90's cranberries became a great cash crop, O.S. ran around asking farmers to switch crops and put in bogs, as many as you can, they would buy everything you could grow. Even Canada was paying their farmers to switch and cash in, then Russia and many others.. So much fruit brought the price down, but we were still okay even tho' small farm. But not enough for Cott, Dole, Pepsi.. all owned O.S. at one time or another. The greed from the boardroom makes them feed on what they created, and the little family farmer is hung out to dry once again.
 
Beckerkumm said:
I've been an accountant for cranberry farms for 45 years. Ocean Spray is a co operative owned by its farmer members and is an interesting combination of capitalism and socialism. For all except about 10 of those years the growers have done very well if they produced at or above their peer group average. That is not to say there hasn't been lots of room for improvement but I'd argue a fair amount of the co op's mistakes have come from paying too much attention to the under performing members who screamed the loudest about being under paid. The cranberry industry issues are as complicated as any economic issues but as is generally the case, if you outperform your peer group you will do well. If you under perform there is no safety net that will or should make you whole.

The recipe for inflation has been cooking for a long time. The only surprise should be how long it has simmered before boiling over.

Dave
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Complicated business, farming.
I remember when a local paper would publish the farmers names and amounts received for not planting rice to keep the price up.
Let8s just say the farmers and their families weren’t too pleased.
 
Oil vs Electric vehicles: something not being considered.
I'm not a lover of the oil companies, the 70s oil shortage.. the prices now.
But there is a danger coming, one that I don't think is being considered. If all of the cars convert over to electric, there is less of a need for gas. Less of a need for oil (WRONG)... oil will still be needed for lubrication, but the price will sky rocket, because gas is one of the products that drive the prices. while I am simplistically looking at it, and not fully educated on oil/gas production, there will be enormous price increases due to the smaller retail pool. scale lowers the cost of most things. lower demand and it becomes more expensive to produce, as there are less suppliers, less supporting companies. REVERSE of supply and demand. It's not a supply, it's a scale factor.
 
if you want crazy farming practices, just read up on the Canadian maple sugar market. I seem to remember some farmers getting prosecuted for smuggling their maple syrup into the US. Like the Prohibition, but with maple sugar instead of moonshine :)
 
woodchucker said:
Oil vs Electric vehicles: something not being considered.
I'm not a lover of the oil companies, the 70s oil shortage.. the prices now.
But there is a danger coming, one that I don't think is being considered. If all of the cars convert over to electric, there is less of a need for gas. Less of a need for oil (WRONG)... oil will still be needed for lubrication, but the price will sky rocket, because gas is one of the products that drive the prices. while I am simplistically looking at it, and not fully educated on oil/gas production, there will be enormous price increases due to the smaller retail pool. scale lowers the cost of most things. lower demand and it becomes more expensive to produce, as there are less suppliers, less supporting companies. REVERSE of supply and demand. It's not a supply, it's a scale factor.
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I have been going back and forth on this for the last few days... doing the numbers... Even buying a Bolt EUV, the least expensive of the cars available that I can install a hitch to (not supported by GM, but a few folks using them to tow without issues) the monthly payments will not offset what I am paying for gas... meaning, no sense in buying anything at all right now.

We have been going back and forth from Orlando to Ocala (170 miles round trip) every week. Sometimes, twice per week... and I thought that I could save by getting an EV... Does not look like that is the case.

Fortunate that I can work from home, so the only expense is when we are taking stuff over... maybe it will make sense if we ever go back to working from the office...

Okay, that means I can get more tools for the garage/shop!!!
 
I'm not talking whether ev makes sense, in some ways it does, in some it doesn't.
what I am strictly talk about is the UNINTENDED consequence. So many times new laws come across and many will say why didn't they see that coming. This is not a law, but it does have an UNINTENDED consequence. The real danger is if the need drops so low, how many companies will survive. Do we head to a monopoly. so many ways of it playing out.
 
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