Melons Aren't Profitable Enough For Mega Produce Companies

[tex]

Hi All,

Apparently, melons don't provide enough profits to satisfy the major produce companies, so they're all exiting the melon market. This should be a shot in the arm for smaller produce companies, local Farmer's Markets, on-farm sales, and roadside produce stands.

It’s a melancholy time for the business of cantaloupes, honeydews and watermelons. At least that’s the view of the “Big Three” U.S. fruit companies.

Chiquita Brands International Inc. quietly halted melon sales last year, unable to generate profit on par with the company’s core banana and salad operations.

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. is “aggressively” restructuring its melon program, with the company’s chief executive earlier this month saying he does not “see much of a future” in traditional melons. Dole Food Co. got out of melons in 2008, a spokesman said.

http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetabl ... 91388.html

Or, we can grow our own.

Tex

[sarkin]

Melons are hard to squeeze into the typical urban backyard, but such great plants to grow... plus, if you grow your own (or buy from farmers with a little imagination), you can get varieties that are just unheard of in the supermarket. That's because they select 'em for extreme deliciousness of flavor, not the ability to store well, to be picked unripe and packed and shipped, or to be/look uniform in size and appearance... or any of the dozens of other non-food reasons for choosing a variety.

Yum, yum... for a sadly brief moment of the year, anyway!

I wonder what they'll put in those hotel and conference center fruit salads, when the supplies of flavorless melon chunks suddenly disappear?

I'm thinking I haven't made a cold melon soup for a long time... (and hoping I can tolerate it).

Thanks for this, Tex. Melon season is just getting underway around here.

Love,
Sara

[tex]

Remember when watermelons still had seeds, and they actually tasted like watermelon, with real flavor? I haven't bought any in years, because the seedless varieties sold around here have pretty much lost the flavor of good watermelons. They always seem to taste green, and overripe, at the same time. That might be part of the reason why the big produce companies find them to be unprofitable - they "improved" watermelons until they were unpalatable to a lot of consumers.

Love,
Tex

[sarkin]

That's a great point, Tex.

Interestingly, one of the few ways that small farmers could compete was to grow varieties those big producers wouldn't bother with. It's one of the weird ironies of life that us citified fools who'll overpay for produce at a farmer's market get fabulous produce, while the folks who live out where the farms are don't necessarily...

Our first watermelon is in the fridge - it's a lot smaller than the giant pink-styrofoam types, and I can't wait to spit some seeds

Love,
Sara