08/07/2022
Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results. Albert Einstein.
Here we are on the 8th July and this is the state of play in Waitrose Canterbury store. We've been picking cherries for two solid weeks of five week season, so about to start our third.
To supply we have to be certified members of LEAF(Linking Environment and Farming), a particular environmentally oriented accreditation body, and were audited annually, check we're installing nest boxes, protecting insects, all sorts of flora and fauna, we minimise waste, and prove we recycle and dispose of any we produce in an environmentally sound manner. We have to measure and reduce our carbon footprint, conserve water, energy usage etc. Everything is rigoursly documennted and recorded, we have umpteen policies in place, staff pay is monitored, as are their living conditions and human rights preserved. This is just a mere snapshot of an office stuffed with lever arch files of compliance documents and bureaucracy. At great expense too, a whole industry exists facilitating this!
So, here is Waitrose selling a 200g pack of English cherries, a handful, basically a pack of air with with a few cherries in it. In a plastic punnet with a heat sealed lid, packed, transported, shelved, purchased and disposed of.To top it all off, commission is paid on that pack of air and plastic. (How dumb am I?) Don't be surprised if all that cost as much as the cherries within. CO² footprint per cherry please? This pack isn't worth growing after all the 'on' costs.
And then there's larger packs, oh they're from both Spain and Greece unripe to allow travel and with dubious quality visible from the shelf, waste? Food waste, oh we monitored that too. Air miles and Co² footprint? Nobody cares really. Just fill in the paperwork and tick the box, it's all money for the importer and the Plc.
And who is to blame for all this? Me. I appointed the profession marketing company to deal with these supermarkets on our behalf and pay a handsome commission for making a phone call and submitting an invoice. To date I've seen little evidence of professional and coherent marketing. Look on the shelves. I opted to do Red Tractor Certification, LEAF and SEDEX audits for the privilege of supplying these wonderful institutions who wish to make bold claims about their commitment to saving the planet and providing value to their customers. Hypocrites all.
None of these people produce a god damn thing, oh we provide a service they say! Well eat it. Live in it. Travel in it. Wear it. Fix your bike with it. Humans don't need you at all, remember that. They say food will be short this year, justify your fat commission and margins respectively.
Rant over. Time for change....
