Re: UKNM: Off-topic - an apple a day keeps the dentist away

[Ray Taylor]

Lois Grayson <

loisgdialstart [dot] net

> said:



>I've just heard a scientist say that the solution to the ailing British

fruit industry is

>to >'add value' (quote) to our apples by genetically modifying them so that

they

>synthesise a peptide which helps prevent tooth decay, thereby creating

>competitive advantage in the global market.


I seem to remember a primary school genetic selection experiment where you

cross breed two types of pea. The one being small, shrivelled and sweet, the

other being big, shiny and tasteless - but infinitely more marketable of

course.


The problem the "British fruit industry" has in marketing their produce is

not looking for added value, but in meeting customer requirements. Remember,

the biggest customers of the fruit industry in any country are ultimately

supermarkets, not consumers. Supermarkets want produce that is bright,

shiny, has a long shelf life, uniform size and shape, and costs the least.

But fruit is best when it is sweet, ripe, all sorts of odd shapes and sizes.


Understand it from the supermarket's point of view. People buy fruit on the

way it looks, not the way it tastes. Housewives choose most staple products

in supermarkets on price. Most consumers have forgotten what fruit ought to

taste like, but this is in itself a market opportunity to sell

"flavour-enhanced" and "organically-grown" produce at premium prices.


But surely the "new economy" has a solution to this problem? Surely there is

room for premium organic brands to be marketed direct from producer to

consumer, with the assistance of a direct distribution mechanism? That way,

those of us who can remember when English apples, eg, were worth eating, can

choose from the dozens of varieties that used to be grown in these islands

and which are availably on a seasonal basis, rather than be forced to take

the tasteless crap currently on all shelves, all year round.


Unfortunately, the only experience I have so far had with home delivery

involves a poor service, selling wilted, half-rotten, shit-encrusted

vegetables, no doubt run by some new-age hippies who don't like getting up

in the morning.


The added values that the British growers should be looking for are service,

variety, choice, nutritional value, organic growing, and (in the case of

fruit) above all taste. A direct-to-home distribution service, ordered by

phone, internet, etc., is the solution to all their woes.


But the farming community is, alas, so dependent on state subsidies that the

most you will get out of them is a tractor blockading your petrol station.

Wonder if any of them will think of dropping off a few cases of free-range

eggs while they are there? NOT!


And the internet community is of course too busy thinking about me-too to

worry about what-next. So I won't hold my breath.


Ray Taylor



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