Monday, January 25, 2016

USA has the Best Food in the World, and the Worst.

And Russia just announced it plans to usurp USA in the "best" category, leaving the worst for USA to produce and sell.  Here again, the breathtakingly stupid "sanctions" on Russia for defending itself against USA-led NATO destabilzation in the Ukraine have had unintended consequences.  Since Russia may not import as much, it is finding as prices rise on cheap, subsidized imports, it can perform "import substitution" with locally produced food that is better and cheaper than the imported stuff.

Clearly picking on GMO is to exclude the cheap stuff, linked above:
According to official statistics the share of GMO in the Russian food industry has declined from 12 percent to just 0.01 percent over the past 10 years, and currently there are just 57 registered food products containing GMO in the country. The law ordering obligatory state registration of GMO products that might contact with the environment will come into force in mid-2017.
Aside from being harmful as designed, GMO is prima facie dumping since it is sold for far less than the costs of massive subsidies and tax breaks necessary to maintain it.  Normally the smart tactic is to let a coountry run itself into poverty dumping goods into your market, but in this case, GMO is not "good."

I was presenting at a conference when the expert following me disagreed with me sharply on one point: USA has a worldwide reputation for food wholesomeness and safety.  She noted the European protests, street fighting, over the TPP and food trade rule changes coming up, not to mention China regularly burns entire shipments of USA commodity foods for its variance from order, etc.

Yes, but...  my topic is small specialty food, and hers was Big Ag. USA can produce the best, and the worst.  There is much to fear from subsidized GMO: suppressed research, obesity and diabetes links, hypertension links, and just the crazy situation in which so much production is centered in so few hands.  Capitalism is collectivization with a dollar sign.

the pendulum is swinging back. Good food is hard work, and the division of labor suggests we need producers and marketers.  For my part I will train a cohort of sellers of food world wide with a with to step by step find customers which will warrant expanded production, and then lower prices.  For those who are uninitiated in free markets, lowering prices is always good, since costs drop faster than prices, so profits widen as you drop your prices to customers more slowly than your costs drop.

For those interested in learning how to sell food worldwide, I have an online, live course starting Tuesday Eve. If you cannot make the live sessions complete transcripts are sent out.  You will be taken through the steps of targeting a country for export sales, developing your offer, finding the actual decision maker for a sale overseas, and then how to add science to your passion and joy to get valid and reliable results in export sales. As you will see from the class website, the course is an hour a week for four weeks:


Winter Session  2016 
Tuesday 1/26-2/16/2016   Four Sessions
Section One ~ 6 PM to 7 PM Pacific Time
(This would be 7 PM to 8 PM Mountain, 8 PM to 9 PM Central, 9 PM to 10 PM Eastern)

The website above invites you to register, do not register!  Simply email me with the your name billing address and I will bill you later for the course.

john@johnspiers.com

If you have any questions, let me know...

 Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi John,

Regarding food transparency and traceability, check out this company:

http://www.harvestmark.com/about-us.aspx

HarvestMark provides transparency and connection from the first to the last mile of the supply chain, enabling food producers and retailers to meet food safety requirements, build shopper loyalty, and optimize freshness and quality. Over 400 leading brands and retailers have adopted the HarvestMark platform, including The Kroger Company, Driscoll’s Berries and Coleman Natural.

Anonymous said...


This Robot-Run Indoor Farm Can Grow 10 Million Heads Of Lettuce A Year

This massive Japanese vegetable factory saves water and energy—along with human labor.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3050750/this-robot-run-indoor-farm-can-grow-10-million-heads-of-lettuce-a-year