How much "value added" is there? Say, to something like wheat.
This website gives a price today for organic wheat at $10.50 (US) per bushel, which is roughly 27kg of wheat. Which is about $390 per tonne.
A few days ago Kara bought 1kg of organic flour for $4.50 (CAD)
Just imagine if the farmer got $4.50 per kg - that's $4,500 per tonne. Or, about 10-11 times as much as they are getting wholesale.
What happened to the wheat Kara bought? Well, it was milled, obviously; it was while flour so it had the bran and germ removed.
The other thing is, that same website lists the non-organic price of wheat - about $3/bushel cheaper. $3 for 27kg of flour.
Why is organic bread 50% more expensive than conventional bread? Certainly not because of the price of the wheat - which is the organic bit!
Someone is making a tonne here. And it's not the farmer - organic or otherwise.
This is probably not enough evidence to prove that "organic is a (financial) con" - there are scales of economy, but really... nobody has integrity, they are all just out to maximise profit, and "organic" seems to mean "middle class, well-enough off, can afford it" - it's just a lifestyle brand. It shouldn't be - it should be something everyone can choose to buy not based on (much) price difference.
Don't get me wrong - market gardening *is* expensive because of the labour cost, because labour is expensive here in Canada, in the UK (unless you get freebie interns, at roughly the cost of 1/3 a paid worker on minimum wage).
But the larger companies that have organic running along conventional.. ugh. Premium product, premium profit.
Did I mention I want to grow my own? ;)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Walden
A quote from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" (available for download as an audiobook at LibriVox or in many text versions at Project Gutenburg):
"Hardly a man takes a half-hour's nap after dinner, but when he wakes he holds up his head and asks, "What's the news?" as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels. Some give directions to be waked every half-hour, doubtless for no other purpose; and then, to pay for it, they tell what they have dreamed. After a night's sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast. "Pray tell me anything new that has happened to a man anywhere on this globe"—and he reads it over his coffee and rolls, that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the Wachito River; never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world, and has but the rudiment of an eye himself.
For my part, I could easily do without the post-office. I think that there are very few important communications made through it. To speak critically, I never received more than one or two letters in my life—I wrote this some years ago—that were worth the postage. The penny-post is, commonly, an institution through which you seriously offer a man that penny for his thoughts which is so often safely offered in jest. And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter—we never need read of another. One is enough."
Today.. I'm reading too much news, and find I don't have much of anything useful to occupy my mind.
"Hardly a man takes a half-hour's nap after dinner, but when he wakes he holds up his head and asks, "What's the news?" as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels. Some give directions to be waked every half-hour, doubtless for no other purpose; and then, to pay for it, they tell what they have dreamed. After a night's sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast. "Pray tell me anything new that has happened to a man anywhere on this globe"—and he reads it over his coffee and rolls, that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the Wachito River; never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world, and has but the rudiment of an eye himself.
For my part, I could easily do without the post-office. I think that there are very few important communications made through it. To speak critically, I never received more than one or two letters in my life—I wrote this some years ago—that were worth the postage. The penny-post is, commonly, an institution through which you seriously offer a man that penny for his thoughts which is so often safely offered in jest. And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter—we never need read of another. One is enough."
Today.. I'm reading too much news, and find I don't have much of anything useful to occupy my mind.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Seeking Farmland
This is energising. While I was on Juniper Farm last year, 3 people who were doing a huge bike tour came and stayed a night or two, not long after I first arrived.
After much cycling, and some soul searching, it seems like two of them at least have found just what they need (see link).
It's energising because of the possibilities I see forming for me/us.
All I "need" is a couple of acres of ideally flattish land and I can, assuming I put in the hard work and have some financial sense, earn a modest living growing vegetables.
That's what I want! Sure, I can take sideline work that'll pay much better, and I probably will do, but to at least work outside 3-4 days a week, for a good part of the year.. heaven!
We are considering our options (I more than Kara, she's happy just being - I envy her!!). There are a couple of plots of land not *too* far from civilisation, er, Ottawa and Kara's family - $20 - 40k for 10-15 acres, which in truth would be plenty.
Or, there is a family friend's 90+ acre plot near Perth.
The other promising option is an Ecovillage in the forming near Lanark, which has much that a bare plot of land does not - an impressive woodworking shop not least. It does not, however, have much in the way of flat land... but we'll see.
Exciting possibilities for the future! And, clearly, possible - not just a pipe dream! Hurrah!
After much cycling, and some soul searching, it seems like two of them at least have found just what they need (see link).
It's energising because of the possibilities I see forming for me/us.
All I "need" is a couple of acres of ideally flattish land and I can, assuming I put in the hard work and have some financial sense, earn a modest living growing vegetables.
That's what I want! Sure, I can take sideline work that'll pay much better, and I probably will do, but to at least work outside 3-4 days a week, for a good part of the year.. heaven!
We are considering our options (I more than Kara, she's happy just being - I envy her!!). There are a couple of plots of land not *too* far from civilisation, er, Ottawa and Kara's family - $20 - 40k for 10-15 acres, which in truth would be plenty.
Or, there is a family friend's 90+ acre plot near Perth.
The other promising option is an Ecovillage in the forming near Lanark, which has much that a bare plot of land does not - an impressive woodworking shop not least. It does not, however, have much in the way of flat land... but we'll see.
Exciting possibilities for the future! And, clearly, possible - not just a pipe dream! Hurrah!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Adding Value
Sometimes I think of myself as a recluse, an isolationalist.
But I tend to realise that isn't it. It's more that I object to.. production chains where many of the people in the chain take a cut of the price - thus increasing the end cost - without adding value.
I don't want to pay for the advertising industry, but if I were to buy, say, a toothbrush, I'd be supporting it.
I had the opportunity to watch TV over the weekend while I was dogsitting. On one channel, the same "Cialis" advert played 2 or 3 times every advert break (ie, every 10 minutes), all day long. The channel was about home improvement and DIY. The fact that a medication is allowed to be advertised that heavily as something that makes people take more notice of you is... shocking. If you need it, your doctor should prescribe it. It should not be a recreational choice.
It's reckless and irresponsible - in order to pay for that level of advertising then a serious proportion of men should have the problem that that medication "fixes" - but, if that high a proportion of middle aged men has that issue, then surely it's a lifestyle issue (too much TV, doughnuts, etc...) rather than a purely "medical" one.
There was also one advert suggesting taking the pill would allow a woman a trip to Paris and a house. But I digress.
In fact this is all a digression from the main point. The supply chain should be one only long enough that each link adds *real* value to the end product. Oh, I know, it's not quite that simple, but take one example.
In an Organic food shop in Ottawa there is a booth with alternative medications (frustrating in itself that herbal quick fixes and all sorts of other junk are available, and prominently pushed, in shops that "should be" selling good quality, reasonably priced, pesticide free and genetically natural foods. This has a much higher margin, though, than organic potatoes, no doubt..), and I saw and tried on a pair of "pinhole glasses".
Pretty cool - I'd not heard of them. But $35-40 for what looked like cheap plastic frames with a piece of plastic mesh instead of a normal lens seemed excessive.
I found exactly the same item on eBay for about $2, posted from Hong Kong.
That's a 1800% or so markup. Just for being out, at a display in a real shop, not just on the internet.
So I'm not isolationist - I just really really object to being overcharged.
I know, that's one sided. If someone is willing to pay £5000 per day for another person to sit in their hallway and say "Fish! Fish! FishyfishyFISH!" all day long, who am I to stop them? But that is a direct value - the buyer values that service, there is no chain.
It's like paying tax that goes to support Trident, or the nuclear industry in general, or... Except that is, at least supposedly, democracy, and we're all in that together. Supposedly.
But I tend to realise that isn't it. It's more that I object to.. production chains where many of the people in the chain take a cut of the price - thus increasing the end cost - without adding value.
I don't want to pay for the advertising industry, but if I were to buy, say, a toothbrush, I'd be supporting it.
I had the opportunity to watch TV over the weekend while I was dogsitting. On one channel, the same "Cialis" advert played 2 or 3 times every advert break (ie, every 10 minutes), all day long. The channel was about home improvement and DIY. The fact that a medication is allowed to be advertised that heavily as something that makes people take more notice of you is... shocking. If you need it, your doctor should prescribe it. It should not be a recreational choice.
It's reckless and irresponsible - in order to pay for that level of advertising then a serious proportion of men should have the problem that that medication "fixes" - but, if that high a proportion of middle aged men has that issue, then surely it's a lifestyle issue (too much TV, doughnuts, etc...) rather than a purely "medical" one.
There was also one advert suggesting taking the pill would allow a woman a trip to Paris and a house. But I digress.
In fact this is all a digression from the main point. The supply chain should be one only long enough that each link adds *real* value to the end product. Oh, I know, it's not quite that simple, but take one example.
In an Organic food shop in Ottawa there is a booth with alternative medications (frustrating in itself that herbal quick fixes and all sorts of other junk are available, and prominently pushed, in shops that "should be" selling good quality, reasonably priced, pesticide free and genetically natural foods. This has a much higher margin, though, than organic potatoes, no doubt..), and I saw and tried on a pair of "pinhole glasses".
Pretty cool - I'd not heard of them. But $35-40 for what looked like cheap plastic frames with a piece of plastic mesh instead of a normal lens seemed excessive.
I found exactly the same item on eBay for about $2, posted from Hong Kong.
That's a 1800% or so markup. Just for being out, at a display in a real shop, not just on the internet.
So I'm not isolationist - I just really really object to being overcharged.
I know, that's one sided. If someone is willing to pay £5000 per day for another person to sit in their hallway and say "Fish! Fish! FishyfishyFISH!" all day long, who am I to stop them? But that is a direct value - the buyer values that service, there is no chain.
It's like paying tax that goes to support Trident, or the nuclear industry in general, or... Except that is, at least supposedly, democracy, and we're all in that together. Supposedly.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Canadian Election
...stinks.
Really stinks.
It seems pretty clear that the Conservatives have engineered this election in order to get a shot at a majority government.
They have spent millions this year on "attack ads" against the Liberal leader. Apparently, since Jan 31st, the Liberals have had 150 ads on tv; the NDP about 1000; and the Tories 6,200.
The attack ads are fear-based. In fact it looks like the whole Conservative campaign will be fear based. Sadly it seems like Canadians are into it - some dislike the dirtiness, but for most, stability is key. Better the devil you know (even if that devil is leading the country into a mess in a couple of years - huge deficit with a very complacent attitude).
I don't know how anyone could vote for a party that twists the truth so much. What ever happened to politicians being fine, clean, upstanding members of the community?
"Hate Ignatieff - because he's been a professor at Harvard" (broader world view is a negative these days?), or the like. Ugh.
Stinks.
Really stinks.
It seems pretty clear that the Conservatives have engineered this election in order to get a shot at a majority government.
They have spent millions this year on "attack ads" against the Liberal leader. Apparently, since Jan 31st, the Liberals have had 150 ads on tv; the NDP about 1000; and the Tories 6,200.
The attack ads are fear-based. In fact it looks like the whole Conservative campaign will be fear based. Sadly it seems like Canadians are into it - some dislike the dirtiness, but for most, stability is key. Better the devil you know (even if that devil is leading the country into a mess in a couple of years - huge deficit with a very complacent attitude).
I don't know how anyone could vote for a party that twists the truth so much. What ever happened to politicians being fine, clean, upstanding members of the community?
"Hate Ignatieff - because he's been a professor at Harvard" (broader world view is a negative these days?), or the like. Ugh.
Stinks.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Politics
I think most would agree that, in order to be a politician, you need to be able to put the best face on things, make yourself look good no matter what; have a hunger for power; be able to speak confidently about things you might not really know that much about, and at short notice.
It's a horrible sounding job - being the fall guy, the front. If you have any personal beliefs you have to bury those in order to be in step with your party - moreso the higher you rise.
And then we wonder why we have horrible people doing the job. People who will say blue one day, green the next just to stay in the job.
Well, it's the system that puts those conditions on politicians. The lies, half truths and evasions must become so embedded that a clear sense of right and wrong often gets lost.
How can we be surprised that MPs have trouble seeing that their expenses claims are outrageous when millions are wasted by their departments...
I'm really beginning to see that, if we really want politics and politicians to change, we need to rethink how they get into power and under what circumstances they can stay in power.
If the system that employs them recognises openness, and removes the necessity for an opposition thats role is solely to undermine the ruling party, we could do so much better, I think.
Drop parties - give individuals the right to always vote how they feel they *should*, rather than how their party tells them to.
And, of course, think more about "people" than "corporations".
It's a horrible sounding job - being the fall guy, the front. If you have any personal beliefs you have to bury those in order to be in step with your party - moreso the higher you rise.
And then we wonder why we have horrible people doing the job. People who will say blue one day, green the next just to stay in the job.
Well, it's the system that puts those conditions on politicians. The lies, half truths and evasions must become so embedded that a clear sense of right and wrong often gets lost.
How can we be surprised that MPs have trouble seeing that their expenses claims are outrageous when millions are wasted by their departments...
I'm really beginning to see that, if we really want politics and politicians to change, we need to rethink how they get into power and under what circumstances they can stay in power.
If the system that employs them recognises openness, and removes the necessity for an opposition thats role is solely to undermine the ruling party, we could do so much better, I think.
Drop parties - give individuals the right to always vote how they feel they *should*, rather than how their party tells them to.
And, of course, think more about "people" than "corporations".
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Little bit of this, little bit of that
Snowstorm!! It's pretty much been snowing all day. I've just been down and shovelled some of the snow in the back yard - as we are 1/4 of the house, 3 or so cars have to fit down there. It's lovely and fluffy and white, so much of it. It's heaped up to one downstairs window and along the dividing fence.
Temperature here: -10 to -15 degrees C.
Temp. at "home" in L.B.: max 9 to min 7 degrees C. Not minus. Plus.
Aaah.
I've been reading "Living the Good Life" by Helen and Scott Nearing, a very.. strict? austere? disciplined?.. couple who moved from New York to Vermont during the Great Depression. They bought a farm, built houses of stone, and generally did the whole homesteading thing - they grew about 80% of their own food, in a climate with perhaps 3 frost-free months.
Pretty inspiring. It's made me look for land, earnestly and urgently, again. It's a tough call - land can be cheap here, with a hundred acres of bush in northwest Quebec for $25,000; a hundred acres of farmland 1.5 - 2 hours from Ottawa for $60,000, or something like 6 acres for $60,000 within 30 - 45 minutes of Ottawa.
I don't need to live close to Ottawa, but.. my wife does. Or, I think I might not need to, and she thinks she probably will.
The Nearings had no such split loyalties (or, if they did, they didn't talk about them in the book). They were hardcore to the extreme - earning what money they absolutely had to have (for taxes, petrol, etc) making maple syrup, and bartering for the rest.
I want to be hardcore. I want to do it and make it work. The year ahead, during which I will work as a web guy, will provide us with some capital with which to purchase some land - but, oh my, I want to get my hands in the earth - hear the bees.
Well, not much bare earth, nor many bees, around at the moment - I should be hibernating!
Temperature here: -10 to -15 degrees C.
Temp. at "home" in L.B.: max 9 to min 7 degrees C. Not minus. Plus.
Aaah.
I've been reading "Living the Good Life" by Helen and Scott Nearing, a very.. strict? austere? disciplined?.. couple who moved from New York to Vermont during the Great Depression. They bought a farm, built houses of stone, and generally did the whole homesteading thing - they grew about 80% of their own food, in a climate with perhaps 3 frost-free months.
Pretty inspiring. It's made me look for land, earnestly and urgently, again. It's a tough call - land can be cheap here, with a hundred acres of bush in northwest Quebec for $25,000; a hundred acres of farmland 1.5 - 2 hours from Ottawa for $60,000, or something like 6 acres for $60,000 within 30 - 45 minutes of Ottawa.
I don't need to live close to Ottawa, but.. my wife does. Or, I think I might not need to, and she thinks she probably will.
The Nearings had no such split loyalties (or, if they did, they didn't talk about them in the book). They were hardcore to the extreme - earning what money they absolutely had to have (for taxes, petrol, etc) making maple syrup, and bartering for the rest.
I want to be hardcore. I want to do it and make it work. The year ahead, during which I will work as a web guy, will provide us with some capital with which to purchase some land - but, oh my, I want to get my hands in the earth - hear the bees.
Well, not much bare earth, nor many bees, around at the moment - I should be hibernating!
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