SEGMENT: FARM BUSINESS & HIRED HELP
Wayne "Ren" Sirles>ISM Interviews M-Z>ISM Interviews M-Z, Segment 10
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- FARM BUSINESS
- Cut down on production because of aging. One son in the business. Now have just 125 acres of peaches, 90 acres of apples and 60 acres of vegetables. Will get smaller yet. Probably never retire, but will slow down. Wholesale business may diminish. Lose the personal touch with professional managers. Have to save for a rainy day because of highs and lows of farming. Save when times are good. Last year had four days of freezing and no crops. Now it’s a global market. Supply and demand market balance; one trailer load of too much product can upset the market, even in a St,. Louis-sized town. Supermarkets set the prices. Chain stores set 90 per cent of market prices. Six chain stores in the US. Explains wholesaling. Has 80 workers in summer, 20 in winter. 35 are women, perhaps wives of workers. Most work in shed; have better eye and dexterity than men. Describes the skill of a blind woman.
- HIRED HELP
- In the 1950s, sharecropper types were the workers. Later it was crews of workers. Then migrants arrived. Laws passed for housing, pay rules. Today's migrant want only one move per year.
