10 hectares of melons rotting in fields
Murph
SOMERSET — Harry Morse is not a happy farmer.
Thousands of cantaloupes are rotting in his fields because Atlantic
Superstore and Sobeys are selling melons from other growers this year
rather than buying them from his Somerset farm. Mr. Morse said they
told his selling agent they would need lots.
Mr. Morse planted 10 hectares of cantaloupes but then the chains’
buyers told his selling agent "they thought we might run short, so
they went to California."
He said no one asked how his crop was doing, they just went ahead and
ordered produce elsewhere. He has been able to sell about a third of
his crop to small farm markets but the rest is sitting in his fields
when there should be pickers there every two days.
As he told his story Friday in his small office, where some visitors
were also hearing him vent his frustration, his agitation increased.
He got up from his desk and paced. He walked up to one person as he
talked, then another. He sat down and pounded his fist on his desk.
It’s not just this one crop that bothers him, he said, it’s what he
called a lack of respect, concern and interest in small Nova Scotia
farms.
"They don’t give a damn," Mr. Morse said of the chain supermarkets.
"They have no sympathy. They just don’t care about local producers.
"I’m convinced, after years of dealing with them, that they think
local producers are a pain in the ass."
Mr. Morse said the problem stems from centralized purchasing, in which
someone outside the region is buying produce and worrying more about
quantity and cheap prices than quality or where the food comes from.
Mr. Morse has farmed for 50 years. He always hoped to pass the farm on
to his seven grandkids and has continued to work, trying to build it
up, but he said he keeps running into a lack of support from the main
players in the grocery business.
If he had known things were going to turn out like this, he said, he
would have retired years ago.
"I feel like I’ve wasted my life trying to build it up for them," he
said. "I’ve wasted my life and I’ve wasted their lives."
He said when Superstore used to buy his melons, they paid him 85 cents
but sold them for $2.99. Those kinds of margins make money for the
grocery stores but do nothing for farmers facing increasing production
costs, he said.
Mr. Morse said he owed only $5,000 when he started the Somerset farm.
But as he tried to diversify and change the farm to keep it afloat,
his loans have gone up to more than half a million dollars.
He said the public needs to demand that grocery stores carry more
local foods to help support local farmers and people should buy their
food from local meat and farm markets. But with grocery stores selling
gasoline and offering discounts on the gas based on what people spend
on groceries, more people are going to buy more food in the big
stores, he said.
One of Mr. Morse’s grandchildren, Shane, said the frustration grows
day by day.
He has been working on the farm for about seven years, "since I was
old enough to reach the pedals of a tractor," he said. "I’ve been
around here my whole life."
Shane Morse turns 19 on Sunday. He said that even in his short life,
he has seen a decline in the grocery chains’ interest in the farm.
The government needs to do more to promote and require, where
possible, the use of locally produced food, he said. And above all, he
said, consumers need to demand it.
"It’s a hard thing to think about (my grandfather’s efforts) all going
to waste after so many years of him working his guts out," Shane said.
Sobeys, after a controversy erupted earlier this year over imported
corn, said it spends $400 million a year on Atlantic Canadian produce,
more than any other retailer.
The company said it buys local first, as long as the produce meets
"key requirements of food safety, quality, consistent supply and
competitive prices."
Sobeys spokeswoman Jill Thomas-Myrick said Friday night the first the
chain had ever heard of Mr. Morse and his complaints was when
reporters called on Friday.
"We are not aware of him being involved in any specific contracts at
this point," she said.
She said Sobeys sells cantaloupe from two Annapolis Valley suppliers.
"We have agreements that we put in place with local suppliers and we
remain committed to those, as we have in the past," she said.
Sobeys works directly with Agri-Growers, Ms. Thomas-Myrick said, and
"they would provide (to) us directly."
Mr. Morse said Jim Daigle, listed as the president of Agri-Growers
Ltd., is his selling agent.
According to the provincial Agriculture Department’s website, the Port
Williams company is "made up of eight farms based in the Annapolis
Valley shipping approximately 20 million pounds of produce annually to
the three major grocery chains."
Mr. Daigle, the website states, is responsible for marketing and
distribution. He could not be reached Friday night.
A representative from Atlantic Superstore could not be reached Friday
evening but told CBC television that they would look into the situation
Just Plain Jim
stores.
The store has every right to do business with who that want to.
If they can get a better and cheaper product somewhere else, that's their
business.
Hell..if Sobeys wants to ship milk in from China (as long as it's cheaper
and lead free)
I'd be happy to buy it.
The guy stated he owed only $5000 when he started 50 years ago and now owes
100 times that.
Personally, if I started a business where I was losing $10 000 a year...I
think I'd look into another idea.
I have no sympathy for the man.
"Murph" <davejm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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Randall Stephens
the market to make money, plain and simple. I'm sure Harry Morse isn't the
first small-town guy to be kicked in the arse by Corporate America (or
Canada in this case).
Having said that, what a great way to attack Loblaw CEO Galen Weston Jr's
recent multi-million dollar "Produce Grown Close To Home" ad campaign!
"Murph" <davejm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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