Dance time: Growers Vs. Buyers
Dec 15, 2007

Growers prepare to face the music Growers and their organizations work to meet or beat their buyer’s requests

Don Curlee; For the Capital Press; 12/14/2007 6:00:00 AM
Several weeks ago this column presented a scenario pitting big-volume produce buyers against growers who might be fed up with the supermarkets' demands for them to use specific preferred methods in the production of food.

After several interviews, conversations and visits on the internet it appears that many growers in California are not only happy to meet the demands of their buyers, but are in step with their preferences before they are expressed.

Several growers and their organizations are running headlong to meet or beat their buyers' requests for food products produced organically or by sustainable methods even before a universal definition of sustainability has been developed.

While the big-volume buyers such as Wal-Mart, Sysco and Safeway are tuning up to play a tune they expect growers to dance to, many growers are already dancing to a beat the musicians might have trouble maintaining.

In many cases the growers and their associations were dancing to the new beat before the terms sustainability and sustainable agriculture became buzz words for radical environmentalists, evangelists for global warming, the green community, soccer moms and other assorted splinter groups and anti-capitalist apologists.

As mentioned in the previous column, the Lodi-Woodbridge wine growers are committed to producing grapes by sustainable methods, using the best definition of sustainability available. Winegrape growers in the south central coast area and in Sonoma County are on a similar course.

The almond industry is emphasizing sanitation at every level as this year's crop is processed and packaged, putting growers on notice that increasingly stringent steps will be taken in subsequent years to protect the crop from biological contamination.

The major carrot producers from their Kern County headquarters are out front in producing their products organically and by sustainable methods, and their output for this year has increased by 20 percent.

Several Central Valley tree fruit growers and shippers are identifying their products in a way that indicates that they received special care and concern as they matured. Their label also implies that socially acceptable behavior and management prevailed at every level of production.

These are only a few of the food producers in California who are going full-speed to reach the "feel-good" market, sending products wrapped by promises that they were produced in ways that are environmentally friendly, economically sound and socially acceptable. Those promises are expected to make buyers feel good about buying, even if they have to pay more. Those who can't afford higher prices might have to continue feeling bad, or feeling only enjoyment and contentment from the food they can afford.

The growers and their representatives aren't taking these measures on a whim. On the contrary, management consultants and public opinion surveyors have been employed. The data and advice they have developed is spurring the producers on, convincing them that the "feel good" market is indeed substantial.

More than that, farmers are far more sophisticated in their production methods, their attention to regulations and detail and their concern for the world around them than most consumers will ever suspect. They have access to electronic systems for record keeping, compliance and planning that are astounding.

Some growers were hesitant, even reluctant at first, and some still are. But getting in step is not as difficult as they might have thought. Help is only a phone call or mouse click away. Overcoming the shock of change is not that difficult.

The real shock is likely to be at the big-volume buyer level when they realize how well-rehearsed the grower community is for dancing to whatever tune they want to play. Tutus at the ready, let the dance recital begin.

Don Curlee is a veteran ag publications editor and ag freelancer in Clovis, Calif. E-mail: agwriter1@sbcglobal.net.


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