Riding The Roller Coaster

My hope is that by the time this issue reaches your mailbox, “things” will have settled down a bit. When I say “things,” I’m referring to the stock market and the presidential race. The race for the White House — hopefully — will be over, for better or for worse, depending on which side of the aisle you are on, and maybe the stock market will not be so volatile.  At press time, it appeared as if the market was becoming more stable.

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Coming hot off the heels of record lows and record highs in the stock market, however, if you are anything like me, you wonder if you will ever be able to retire. Uncertainty is not something that anyone is comfortable with. Even in the best case financial scenario, we all need to pay close attention to how and where we spend money.

The good news is that agricultural industry experts have said the impact to our industry will be rather short lived. According to the National AgriMarketing Association Webinar, “Impact of the Credit Crunch on Agrimarketers,” which was held last month and covered in our enewsletter in October, we should be back to business as usual in about six months. (To read our online coverage of the Webinar, to go www.americanvegetablegrower.com and click on Veggie-bytes Blog.)

Advice From A Winner

We asked our Grower Achievement Award winner, Bill Brim of Lewis Taylor Farms in Tifton, GA, what he thinks of the current economic situation and he, too, had some positive comments.

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“Overall, I think we need to just hang on,” explains Brim. “It’s a given that people need to eat, and hopefully they will eat fresh fruits and vegetables.” In the end, Brim is just like the rest of us: He hopes to make money instead of losing it. 

Seed Trials

As Brim states, he is hopeful people will eat fresh vegetables. And many of our seed companies are working hard to bring new varieties and improved varieties to fruition to accomplish that goal for consumers and growers alike.

In this month’s issue, we included our annual seed trial report. American Vegetable Grower editors hit the road during the summer and early fall to visit seed companies all across the U.S. and learn about the latest varieties, including ones that have improved disease resistance, ones that fill a niche, and some that are just plain interesting.

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