Many of these products could've been dried and shipped abroad. Not sure who to blame is - many are. eggs, milk, onions can be dried and stored. Instead of giving financial aid or reimbursement, it would've been better if the gov't had bought it, dried it, and donated it! As for cabbage, I haven't seen it go under 55 cents a pound in a few years. Maybe if it had, I'd've been eating more of it. Hard heads of cabbage can last in the fridge a few months. If you use the other leaves instead of cutting it and storing the excess, there'll be no browning of cut areas and therefore no waste.
Its a question of costs... if you are a small farmer, you sell your raw products to big buyers like restaurant chains, food processors... The big companies would then dry, ship etc
When the big companies suddenly cancel the contracts, what is the farmer going to do ? What is the cost of trying to package and preserve the foods, which would require additional licenses and inspections from FDA or some state/federal shit, plus labor and machinery ? Then you still have to sell it and make back the investment. Since you have no advertising department or budget, how do you do that ?
Its unrealistic for most. The best they could do likely is offer the fresh food as is for free, for whoever wants to come pick it up.
sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 2 years ago
The big thing you always have to keep in mind is that whatever you're talking about, it needs to be done at industrial scales.
Some of the stuff that you're talking about is really easy to do if you're just dealing with your home garden, but once you start talking about tons, and you're not expecting it, and you have no equipment, and nobody's working, you don't really have many other options before everything starts rotting.
genkiferal@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
yeah, i forgot about the labor not being there.