MARKET REPORT SEPT 18TH 2015
On Topsoil, Organic Week and Fairtrade Campus Week!
First – to make your Organic Week Promotions (remember?) check out a great array of specials!Over 100,000 km. an hour – that’s how fast the earth flies through space. We are a giant molten ball of liquid metals, with a cool enough outer crust to walk on. And that crust is nothing more than solidified rock, with sand, gravel and boulders covering it – oh, and a varying amount of topsoil. Think about what our world would look like if you vacuumed off the top 15 cm, (yes, imagine a giant Hoover!) which would remove all the growing soil, and the plants, trees and your front lawn with it. What is left is a barren life-less ‘moon-scape.’ Most people don’t consider the importance of that thin layer of soil which has slowly built up over millennia. That soil, and the plants and trees growing in it sequester billions of tons of carbon, which is then released as a gas (carbon dioxide.) The more carbon, the less carbon dioxide is released. But, through modern conventional agriculture, in major production areas, we have lost up to 75% of that topsoil.
Consider the Great Plains. 100 years ago they were covered in Prairie grasses, with roots over 2 meters long – burrowing down through topsoil and mineral sands – drought resistant for sure, and also binding the topsoil together. That has been replaced with modern crops of cereal grains with roots only penetrating a few cm. with no ability to hold the topsoil in place. You have all seen tractors rototilling fields with a huge plume of dust (topsoil) blowing behind them. That precious soil erodes away, and ends up in waterways, river deltas and ultimately lakes and oceans.Not many people really think about soil that much, but maintaining and improving the quality of soil is one of the most basic tenets of organic farming. Traditional conventional farming mines the nutrients out of the soil, to be replaced annually with chemical fertilizers, while organic farmers continually add composts and cover crops to replace nutrients and build up the organic (carbon) content of the soil.A recent study by the Rodale Institute (an iconic organic farming research center) reported that if every farm on the planet reverted to the organic prescription of continual soil improvement, the additional organic content (being carbon) could hold onto enough carbon dioxide to reverse climate change!So, with that thought – starting this Saturday – it’s Canada Organic Week, where we celebrate the growth of the industry, and all the good things about organic farming we usually talk about - no chemical fertilizers or pesticides -no GMO etc., but maybe it’s also a good time to talk about the regenerative aspects of building soil, capturing carbon dioxide out of the air, and slowing climate change. Maybe this is actually the most important part of organics – and what your customers should really be talking about!At the same time it is also Fair Trade Campus Week from the 21st to 25th. Fairtrade Canada works closely with the NGO Canadian Fair Trade Network to help universities change their purchasing policy to provide Fair Trade products preferentially, and then become official Fair Trade campuses. There is lots of potential to partner up with your local campus to become part of their supply chain on organic Fairtrade fruit and veg, coffee, tea etc. These include UBC, SFU, Selkirk and UNBC in the west.As for the Market Report – will make this short and sweet – lots of changes coming up as local stone fruit season winds down – time to switch to autumn mode now that summer has apparently ended. Local greens are on and off, with late plantings either non-existent or huge gluts. California is in worse shape, with the same weather issues as we have had all year, with continuing tight supply and high prices, and as each growing region across the continent hits their first frosts, demand in the south continues to go up. So watch for an interesting ride over the next month or so as we transition south.We have some GREAT Organic Week specials for you – enjoy!Stefan found this great picture somewhere on line – just had to share it!