CAN FARMERS AND CONSUMERS BRIDGE THEIR DIFFERENCES AND RENEW THE ALLIANCE OF INTERESTS?
BY DR. NIMROD
“Misalignment between the goals of different parts of an organization will cause its failure, be it a company, an industry, or even an empire.”
IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS TRUST
For 12 thousand years, people have been engaged in agriculture – cultivation, and production for self-consumption.
The producer of the food (farmers) and its consumers (family) were the same. Hence, there was a total trust of the ‘Consumers’ in the Producers.’
About 250 years ago, the population growth started to increase rapidly, and much of the population concentrated in big cities.
World population in billions
THE 250 YEARS OLD ROOT PROBLEM
Now, the Producers of food and the Consumers were not the same person or family anymore (and not depending on a single supplier). For the first time in human history, the close-coupled link between farmers and consumers disconnected.
At that very moment, a new value chain has been created, in which farmers are linked to input providers and produce traders, and not directly to the consumers.
For the first time in human history, there was a conflict of interest between Farmers (the producers) and Consumers.
That conflict of interest just deepens when agro-chemical companies offered and convinced farmers to use poisons, such as DDT, to protect their crops.
Farmers tried, it did the job of killing pests, and therefore they accepted the offer.
From that point on, the agro-chemical industry kept pushing more, and more chemicals, which the farmers bought and used.
That came at the expense of human and environmental health. When consumers became aware of it, their distrust in farmers and the agro-chemical industry was clear and burst out in anger.
This mistrust harms all parties, but mostly the farmers, which suffer from increased regulations, less ability to export, and a bad sentiment considering them as careless and the ones who are “poisoning us all.”
IT’S NOT THE FARMERS’ FOULT
Let’s make it clear; farmers do not wish to poison the produce nor the environment.
I was a farmer, and I am telling you that with 100% assurance.
Farmers just want to protect their crops, so they can earn an honest living and feed their families.
The agro-chemical companies offer them chemicals because that is what chemical companies know how to do; this is their business model.
There is no conflict of interest between farmers and consumers, but there is a vast, unbridgeable conflict of interest between chemical companies and consumers.
THE WAY OUT
Today, in the year 2020, consumers are not ready any longer to accept the status quo, and rightfully so.
Seventy years ago, the public concern revolved around the wish to simply have a portion of food on the plate. That has changed into, “there is enough good food available, now I want it to be healthy, tasty, without chemical-residues, and please don’t poison me or the environment in the process of growing/producing it.”
Obviously (due to the power of the chemical companies), today this is not the case, most farmers are not aligned (yet) with consumers’ interest.
WHY?
Because there is no alignment between the agro value chain interest and that of the consumers.
About half of the global population belongs to the middle class or has sufficient resources and ready to pay for healthy food, free of chemical residues (not even a little), free of pests, tasty, looking good, and on the shelf of the local store.
Furthermore, in 2020 the consumers want to know about how their food is produced – where it came from, were the farmers treated well, the ecological footprint of growing, etc. That is similar to public requests to take care of the Chinese workers at Apple, Nike, etc. production sites abroad from USA.
The answer is clear – the way to solve those conflicts is by aligning interests through the value chain and re-establishing relationships of trust between farmers and consumers.
THE SOLUTION, THE VISION, and THE REALITY
Let me take you back to why I am in this business. Remember how, as a farmer, I realized that consumers want fruits free of chemical residues, free of pests, tasty, and growing in an eco-friendly environment? [>><<]
That fundamental need and desire have not changed at all, and if anything, it just increased for both farmers and consumers.
As a farmer, I knew that reducing/eliminating the use of pesticide sprays would be good for my health, the biological balance in my orchards, and good for my business, as I would fetch higher prices for eco-friendly produce.
One problem, though, stopped me from achieving that goal. Not even one agro-chemical company was ready to provide an effective alternative to pesticide sprays, and surely not replace its cash-cow (the fruit fly sprays), with an eco-friendly non-spraying method.
I was facing three options – giving up my dream, wait until a solution will appear, or develop the solution by myself.
Naturally, I decided not to give up and not to wait. Instead, I established Biofeed, where we developed the desired non-spraying, no-poison release, technological solution, which we call –FreeDome.
Finally, with an effective non-spraying solution for fruit flies, the value chain is not dependent on the chemical companies. We can re-connect farmers to consumers, with aligned interests; consumers will get the unique qualities they wish for, and in return will pay a bit more.
Note
Fruit fly sprays typically constitute over 50% of all pesticide sprays in crops sensitive to fruit flies (e.g., mangoes, citrus, etc.), and 80% to 100% of the sprays in the 4 to 16 weeks before harvest. Hence, eliminating those sprays is critical to ensuring healthy produce production in a healthy environment.
At last, all the way from the input suppliers, through the farmers, to the supermarkets, everybody is aligned around the same goal; satisfying consumers’ desire for – fruits free of chemical residues, free of pests, growing in an eco-friendly environment, looking good, and tasty.
Everybody is aligned because all understand that like in any business when you can provide a solution to fulfill a real explicit need, in return, you get more sells, or a premium price or both.
Alignment of interest is how farmers and the entire value chain will get positive feedback and continue doing that.
But this is not all; there is a gospel – for the first time, fruit growers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have access to an effective non-spraying solution for the fruit flies. It’s a breakthrough!
THE NEW DEAL
It became clear like in any other business; only the Win-Win-Win situation is the way to align interests. Then, everybody in the value chain gets his benefit, including farmers and consumers.
The deal we offer is simple – we will start with the mango industry, and its substantial unfulfilled high-value potential.
The CONSUMER – is ready to pay more if he gets what he wants è mango free of chemical residues, free of pests, growing in an eco-friendly environment, looking good, and tasty.
The AGRI VALUE CHAIN – is ready to provide the consumer with what he wants if they get what they wand è increasing income by selling more mangoes, for a premium price.
The above represents a tight loop of interest of the main parties. Both can benefit once there is a mechanism to maintain trust between the parties.
BRIDGING ALL CONFLICTS WITH A NOVEL APPROACH
Finally, there is an alignment of interests within the agri value chain and between that chain and the consumers. This is a dramatic business change.
But we still have two problems to solve –
(1) A way to assure that the agri value chain is standing up to the standards it wants to achieve and promised to fulfill, and
(2) A way to ensures consumers that they are getting the value guaranteed for their money.
To answer those reasonable concerns, I now introduce a novel approach – the Green Valley package. It is based on three pillars:
1. FreeDome – Technological SOLUTION for non-spraying, no-chemicals, fruit fly control.
2. Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone (FFCTZ) – METHODOLOGY – the protocol to ensure optimal application and compliance with the required fruit fly control results.
3. Green Valley – MODEL of protocol and a label to ensure total compliance with the regulations and enable consumers to recognize the origin and standards easily.
The structure assures the desired result like export, access to market, more and better quality, higher income, etc.
The Green Valley package is defining as a high standard protocol for exports of mangoes.
ELIGIBILITY TO WORK WITH THE GREEN VALLEY PACKAGE?
There are three mandatory criteria to start the cooperation, and it is entirely based on the ability to implement the Green Valley package novel approach:
1. A local business partner.
2. Cooperation with the plant protection services in adjusting the protocol to the local needs.
3. A minimum area of the FFCTZ project of no less than 50 hectares.
Biofeed is unwilling to compromise on less than perfect results, and so should you if you care about your future.
Once the Green Valley package is approved as an additional / optional, export protocol, farmers have more options to choose from, and a real competition of the results (quality, quantity, residues free, infestation) begins.
An additional export protocol, notably stricter one, can be viewed as a way to ensure the continuation of export in case of Export Ban on farmers using the regular export protocol [>><<].
GREEN VALLEY – THE SURE WAY TO ENTER EXPORT MARKETS
Twenty-six years after I began my journey as a farmer. Today, I am no longer a farmer. Still, I can say to all farmers, “finally, you have a sure way to secure your income and even increase it while maintaining your health and the health of the consumers and protecting the environment.”
At the same time, I say to consumers wherever they are, and with my hand, on my heart, I say, “we have invested a lot of effort for many years to make a dream come true. From now on, you will get the best mangoes, with the best look, taste, and smell, all free of chemical residues, free of pests, growing in an eco-friendly environment.”
The agro value chain is re-connected, from the input suppliers, through the farmers, to the consumers.
With this, we managed to renew the old unwritten agreement between consumers and farmers, get back consumers’ trust, and get farmers a high income for high value.
Contact me if you wish to kick-start your economy or national scale operation using advanced economic models, protocols, and field-tested agricultural technologies.
Let’s see how together we can take it a GIANT step forward.
