Fishermen know a thing or two about recessions. They call it weather,luck, and greed. Their recession can occurr any time of the year, any year, even when their boats are sitting on dry dock. If weather doesn't interfere with their job, fish runs might. Even with a great catch, the price set in advance by the buyers' cooperatives may end up causing a recession. This year, back in December, the crab catch was excellent. Yet, as time progressed, the catch didn't quite turn out as anticipated.
The price of crab had been set in advance of the season; it was actually a bet on how much crab would be available and how much customers were willing to pay for it.
Farmers know recessions too. They call it weather, infestations/luck, and greed. The cranberry harvest was excellent back in October; but so was the harvest back on the other coast. The price of cranberries was lowered, and the farmers made less this year with a good harvest than last year with a mediocre harvest.
Nobody can control weather or luck.
We can surely try to control the human factor, greed.
17 comments:
First wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your Valentine post ... and this one too! My grandparents were farmers and I remember well how they were impacted by forces way beyond their control.
very true...
Having grown up on a farm, I appreciate the truth of this post!
It's amazing how much farmers and fishermen can get shafted because of consumer desire for cheap cheap cheap. We generally don't want to pay for quality. Sad.
Crabs? Oooh, excellent!
Cost? Astronomical!
What bugs me here is how the producer gets what may come but the middle men, the wholesalers and the retailers make the big money. When you consider what the farmer or the fisherman gets and what the same things cost when on your plate you want to scream.
Our whole system favors the middle man...
Aloha, Friend!
Comfort Spiral
Yes Greed is the problem.
Wizz :-)
Right you are!
Thank you for the lesson on a couple of occupational hazards I know little about. My grandfather lost the Montana farm in the Depression. That's the closest I've ever been to farming. And fishing? Nada.
They say that "money is the root of all evil" and that goes for greed, too! Unfortunately, it is what drives our economy. Our watermen are battling weather problems, too. It's so much colder than usual, that the crawfish are confused. Great post!
This comment isn't really about the farmer or the fisherman, but about greed. My husband does inspections for claims against moving companies. Sometimes claimants are honest in their values, sometimes not so much so. Today he was at an inspection and the man had claimed $900 for a damaged pair of candlesticks. My husband took a photo and turned them over...there was a Pottery Barn price tag of $59/pair. Greed? Hmmm...in my book, yes. Hubby took a photo of that, too, with the man standing right there, but neither said a word. You'd have thought the man would at least clear his thoat or hem and haw, but he didn't even flinch. My husband just thought to himself - a picture paints a thousand words, or one: greed.
There's much truth to this.
I feel for fishermen and farmers. Their income always seems so precarious. There are just so many variables - and they work so darn hard! You're right about greed, though. But you're dealing with humans and money talks, for the most part.
control greed?????? not in another, only in ourselves... great post!
Well said LV but the greed is always the unspoken factor in the equation. remember Greenspan saying for the twenty years of his chair at the FED how the markets would self correct because it was in their interest to do so? He didn't take into account or didn't expose his knowledge of the greed factor of humans in the equation.
Great post.
I was listening to an elderly uncle recently about fishing. He told about a man who went out in a small boat. When others came nearby, he pretended like he wasn't catching anything so they would move on. Eventually, he caught so much fish that he couldn't even start his boat to come back to shore because it would fill with water. So, he had two choices, sink or throw some fish overboard.
This post reminded me of that.
Post a Comment