Advice for Pirates

Oct 03, 2006 84 Replies

Both Fair Trade and "Organic" foods have a large "rip off" element in my opinion. We farm without pesticides and without fertiliser input. However we can't sell our produce as organic because we don't make payments to the Soil Association (or one of the other certification bodies). OTOH people who *do* subscribe can use pesticides etc, just as long as they come off an "approved" list and they can still sell their produce as organic.

Someone asked me not long ago if our produce was "organic" and I replied that it was better than that. They didn't believe me, and "organic" in most consumers mind means "has a sticker on it."

The other thing is Fair Trade, where a small proportion of the price paid makes its way to the farmer. Again, we sell our own produce and that of other farmers around us, some of them desperately poor. All of the money someone pays us goes to the farmer, every last penny. But again getting the punters to believe us is an uphill struggle.

People really don't want to bother themselves about the real ethics of "organic" or "fair trade". What they want is a nice conscience saving sticker on the packet.

As a result of his bad decision making: (1) as said before, never putting yourself in a position where one customer can determine the future of your business and (2) making long term commitments on the back of a contract that is anything but.

Two examples of calling it right:

When I drew plans for a living I learned a hard lesson and after that would never give more than 1/3 of my time to any one client. A conservatory firm I worked for wanted to give me a lot more work, and truth be told it was nice and easy and well paid. But I declined ... and when they went broke I knew that my caution was justified.

I own a flat in Melbourne bought off plan. The developer will only ever sell one flat in any one development to any one client. If that client can't complete they are not dropped in it. Other developers have eagerly signed up people who want to put deposits on 12+ units, thinking that before completion they can sell on at a profit, and when this doesn't work out they've got a problem.

That might be true of some people but not everyone. I know the source of most of our food and am confident that it's been produced in a truly 'organic' and humane way but much of it has no label at all. And it's nothing to do with conscience, that's a cynical and tired, unoriginal opinion.

Mary

And once again you prove that your perspective is one-dimensional.

If you mean personal, yes it is. As is everyone's. Otherwise, 'one-dimensional' has no meaning. Even the smallest dot has at least two dimensions.

If you don't like my posts I suggest you don't open them - or kf me so that you don't waste your breath on sighs :-)

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