WSJ article on breeding fruit hybrids

Hi Patrick,

Sorry for being a broken record.

From what I see, folks are simply burned out on mass marketing
and merchandising. They've been sold mass produced stuff that turns
out to be bland and somehow disfunctional so many times they are
getting willing to trek out on their own without the "help" of
advertisers or Wally World to try things themselves. Lots of them
feel local pride and seek local producers of many things to get over
the mass market blues. I know that a fruit grower can sell their own
productions. I do it. People love the local connection. Most are
willing to pay a bit more for local products but not a lot more. This
is a major challenge to making a living off such a venture. If ag
subsidies flowed to the small end of the farming spectrum instead of
to the large end, things could be a lot different. I meet a lot of
people who would like to live on a farm and make a living farming but
can't in today's market. You could support a LOT of communities and
farms with a billion dollars in subsidies. Wiki reports about 20
billion in current direct farm subsidy payments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy . Let's see:
20,000,000,000/50,000 = 400,000 farms subsidized at $50K or 800,000
farms subsidized at $25K direct payments. If all government support
is really 180 billion/yr as the Canadians estimate, and it was all
channeled to small farms, you could support 7,200,000 family farms at
$25K total subsidy or 4,000,000 farms at $45K total subsidy! That
might get some new fruits out there - and maybe some people, too!!

Thanks for the link!

Cliff

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WSJ article on breeding fruit hybrids
Wed Sep 7 11:01:38 EDT 2011

This may be of interest - Today's Wall Street Journal has an article that
describes a private fruit breeder's work on stone fruits(plums, etc.). What
I thought was especially interesting was the author's observation that
different segments of the population prefer different flavors:

"Kingsburg has identified fruits that appeal to specific age groups and
palates. For example, after visiting stores and talking with produce
managers, Mr. Spain found children favor a Pluot that is a little sour with
a green skin. People in their 30s prefer something with layers of fruit
flavors and a mottled color. Older people like a milder, traditional-tasting
fruit, with not-too-tart red or black skin."

I suspect the same might be true with fresh grapes and/or wines, so there
seems to be room for niche products, as Cliff has so often mentioned.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904900904576552543026705926.html