Cranberry Stressline

April 9 - 14, 2000

Archives

The Juice Aisle: Labels
Overproduction has growers writing with red ink form the Grayland Daily World
The Farmer as Warrior - review  of Hanson's latest book from the Boston Globe
Dairy farmland development in Bridgewater, Mass.
Editorial on Managing Anger
How the cranberry crisis effects Carver, Mass.
Does it flow? from the Motley Fool
S. Korean company seeks to buy dried berries
Ocean Spray makes appointment to newly created European position
William Pietersen: O.S. news board member
Gatorade goes "FIERCE"
Snapple leads Triarc earnings
Don Hatton quoted in South Beach Bulletin
Farm labor immigration bill

The juice aisle

Labels

click to enlarge 5/14/00  by Hal Brown. If you didn't notice the word "cranberry" on the label, by taste alone you'd think this Nantucket Squeezed Nectars cranberry lemonade (click on picture to enlarge) was simply pink lemonade. In fact, as pink lemonade it couldn't get any better if you grew, harvested and squeezed the lemons yourself. However, Betty and I couldn't taste any cranberry flavor at all even though the ingredient list reads "water, cane sugar, lemon and cranberry juice not from concentrate, lemon pulp, natural flavors, citrus cloud emulsion and ascorbic acid. The only indication that this is a cranberry blend on the front label is on the bottom where it says "Cranberry Lemonade." The label itself has a big sliced lemon on the top and a field of some kind of abstract generic flowers that has nothing to do with citrus, let alone lemons or cranberries. 

Apparently the cranberry ingredient is being used for color rather than flavor, because this is really just a delicious pink lemonade.

click to enlarge A Minute Maid label was featured on the inside-the-back-cover "Selling It" section of the June issue of Consumer Reports. Under the title "Food Follies," Consumers Reports says "three food packages have readers riled. The Minute Maid carton says 'home squeezed' and '100% pure squeezed.' The little words under those two big claims? 'Style' and 'from concentrate.' The deceptively named AllJuice made the article because, surprise, surprise, it is actually only 15% juice."


More Sunday
In the news

The farmer as warrior

He knows that "without a drastic change in our collective will, there's little that can be done to save the remaining small farms"

5/14/00 Jane Brox reviews Victor Davis Hanson latest book on agriculture, "The Land was Everything" in the Sunday Boston Gloves Living Arts Section. Hanson wrote the acclaimed  1996 "Fields Without Dreams." Brox writes of the latest book: 

"Although Hanson's insistent anger and adversarial position are as exhausting as they are distorting, he makes clear, as few writers on agriculture have before, that agribusiness is not to blame for the predicament of the small farmer. We as a culture want what we want, and what we want is produce that looks perfect. We want endless choices available in any season. And we want it all cheaply. For the farmer, this means constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible and practical. Agribusiness, Hanson points out, is only the most efficient way to give us what we desire."

Read Boston Globe book review here

 


Sunday - In the news

Overproduction has growers writing with red ink

5/14/00 From an article in the Sunday Daily World out of Grayland:

To make matters worse, the majority of the Washington growers are members of the national Ocean Spray collective, and Ocean Spray announced earlier this year that it had overpaid growers for the 1998 crop - to the tune of $8 per barrel. That extra money is now being regarded by Ocean Spray as a loan that each grower will have to pay back over the next four years, adding further debt load problems to farms who are already bleeding cash at an alarming rate.

Ocean Spray spokesman Brian Gill says there is very little that can be done in the short term to stabilize prices, but the company is taking steps to turn the market around. Ocean Spray is also cutting its operating budget and has installed new corporate leadership.

"What we have here is really just a classic example of a supply and demand problem," Gill says. "There's just too many cranberries. So we're looking for innovative new ways to increase demand to manage the supply problem." 

Read article here

Dairy farmland development ignites controversy in Bridgewater

5/14/00 From an article in the South Weekly section of the Boston Globe:

The Stone Meadow conflict resonates in many other towns in the region, where growth and development are reshaping once-rural landscapes. Plymouth, for example, is expected to undergo vast changes as farmers sell off unprofitable cranberry farms to developers with ambitious ideas. (Emphasis added)

''It's a struggle between the new and old generation,'' explained Christine Stickney, the town's director of community development, adding that several farms in town are well over 100 acres.

''We have established families in town that have owned their farms for years,'' Stickney continued. ''They make decisions on selling the land or developing it. We also have people who moved here because they like the landscape and the feeling that they're living in this rural area. When the land gets developed for something else it can lead to a conflict.''

Read article here.


Editorial

Managing Anger

5/12/00 There have been several postings on the Forum in the past few days which  concern me. These suggest that some people's anger has turned to rage and they are having fantasies of retribution.

There are two totally wrong ways to express anger which has become rage, and those are to express it behaviorally  against people (obviously the worst), or to express it destructively against objects.  

There are two right ways to manage anger. One is to work it through by talking to others, and the other is to take constructive action to remedy the cause of the anger. Of course, in many situations, doing both of these together is the most beneficial. The only other acceptable way to handle anger besides these approaches is to "stuff it." In other words, it is better to hold your anger in than to act it out physically against a person or an object.

Legal consequences and morality aside, physically explosive expressions of anger only make the anger worse, and lead to detrimental biochemical changes in the body. Such anger outbursts can even cause heart attacks. They lead to a brief catharsis but ultimately make you feel worse. (Read "How to control rage attacks")

Normal people's anger can turn to expressed rage when they feel the following:

  • I was terribly wronged by someone

  • they are at fault for ruining my life

  • I have no control of my life

  • I have no recourse to remedy the situation

  • I have nothing to lose

Being preoccupied with revenge fantasies is a danger sign. If you know of anyone who has gone beyond the fantasy stage and has told you they are actually making a plan, you should inform the intended victim. As a licensed clinical social worker, I have a legal " duty to warn" if I believe a patient is planning to harm another individual. Your duty is a moral and ethical one.

Continued here | Easy to print version

 

How the cranberry crisis affects one small town

5/13/00 Carver and Middleboro both bill themselves at the "cranberry capital of the world." While Middleboro is home to Ocean Spray headquarters and has its share of cranberry bogs, it is also by area the second largest city in Massachusetts. Carver on the other hand is a much smaller town with only approximately 14,000 acres of land area, and with cranberry growers controlling half the taxable land. The town itself is home to over 3,500 acres of active cranberry bogs, 25% of its total land area. In Carver even the police cars are cranberry colored. 

According to an article in May 11, 2000 Carver Reporter, the state has just dropped the per acre value on cranberry bogs from $16,000 to $8,700. 

Townspeople in Carver are no doubt ambivalent about helping their friends and neighbors who are cranberry growers in this way because it will increase their own taxes. The town assessor, Charles Hamilton, is quoted in the Carver Reporter as saying "one hundred cranberry growers will benefit, but all others are going to feel the impact." Steve Romano, Carver tax collector and treasurer said "I never thought the state would do that. It doesn't make sense to lower it that low. It's illogical."

Carver will probably lose approximately $700,000 in tax revenue for the fiscal year which starts in July.  Although they have money in an account used to offset such losses in revenue, they also anticipate a cut in state aid. Thus, the combined losses could lead to the town's having a $1.8 million deficit. 

The article notes that the cranberry crisis has led cranberry growers to make plans to develop their uplands for housing. Makepeace, for example, has filed subdivision plans for 3,000 acres in Carver. The fact that  residential developments usually cost the town more than they receive from home tax revenue is mentioned. What the town officials quoted in the article don't mention is that Makepeace doesn't necessarily have to turn their uplands into housing. Carver's cranberry growers need all the help they can get. If a significant number go out of business and their bogs go fallow, the town's budget will be in dire straits until Carver can become a bedroom community to Boston with very expensive homes and a tax rate that can support a town with no other major tax base besides residences.

A scanned copy of the Carver Reporter article is being sent to those on the email list.

 

Does it flow?

5/11/00 The Motely Fool web site suggests a way to analyze a companies performance utilizing figures available in their SEC 10Q filings or other financial reports. It is called the Flow Ratio, which requires that you have the figures to compute the following formula: current assets minus cash & equivalents divided by current liabilities minus short term debt. 

The article compares Pepsi, which flows, and Wrigleys, which doesn't.

Read article here.


William Pietersen: Ocean Spray's newest board member

5/10/00 William Pietersen is a highly respected advisor to senior corporate managers and a retired CEO with a stellar track record. During the past year he was an advisor to the Ocean Spray board. He is now a professor and consultant, as well as a speaker who commands fees in the $10,000 to $20,000 range. He is credited with successfully launching Tropicana in Japan, Canada and the U.K. Pietersen lectures frequently to business groups on the topics of superior performance in today's global marketplace, how to build a learning organization, how to achieve global competitiveness and how to create a winning strategy.

You can read a biography that supplements the information from the Ocean Spray press release, and includes a photograph,  from the Keppler Associates speakers bureau here.

Related Links: Pietersen on government subsidies for R&D | Columbia University profile with email


Stressline Congratulates:

5/9/00 Jillian Spangler and Jenna Morrison, sophomores at Plymouth South High School, won first and second prizes at the 51st Mass. State Science Fair. The fair was held at MIT in Cambridge. Spangler won her first place award of a $40,000 scholarship to Wheaton College for her entry on the effect of cranberry bog fertilizer on pond eutrophication.  Morrison's $40,000 scholarship to Wheaton was also won on a cranberry entry. It was on controlling dodder on cranberry bogs. 

Spangler's first place prize takes take her to the International Science Fair in Detroit which runs through this week.

Source: The Brockton Enterprise 5/7/00


S. Korean company seeks to buy dried berries

5/10/00 G. Dragon Company, which is based in Seoul, S. Korea, is seeking to purchase 20 metric tons of naturally dried cranberries without any artificial flavors or sugar; packaged in 30 or 60 kg. units for immediate delivery. 

The contact person is Dong Soo, who can be reached at +82 2-968-3141, fax +82 2-962-3773, email is dragonco@chollian.net 

Source: The Journal of Commerce and www.iebb.com which is a business to business electronic commerce company serving the worldwide trade industry, including individuals, organizations, retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers.

Ocean Spray makes appointment to newly created European position

5/10/00 Peter Patkowski, a member of Ocean Spray's international management team, has been appointed to fill the newly created position of director in charge of all of Ocean Spray's pan-European grocery interests. 

Patkowski, who is 46, is a long-time member of the O.S. International team. He spent the previous two years as managing director of the Continental Europe division which is charged with developing the business in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia.

Source: London Financial Times 5/9/00


Ocean Spray Press Release:

Former Seagram, Tropicana exec named to Ocean Spray board

Columbia Prof. William Pietersen is cranberry co-op's first outside director

LAKEVILLE, Mass. -- William G. Pietersen, a professor of management at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and a former top executive of the Seagram Beverage Group and Tropicana Products, has become the first outside member appointed to the Board of Directors of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., a growers' cooperative.

Pietersen, 62, will serve as one of three outside directors to be appointed to the Board as part of a company restructuring approved by Ocean Spray's 930 grower-owners at their recent annual shareholders' meeting. The co-op's Board had been comprised of 25 grower-owners, with no external or management representation. In a move to speed up decision-making and bring fresh perspective to the panel, shareholders voted to shrink the board from 25 to 15, and include three outside directors and the CEO.

"We're honored and fortunate that Professor Pietersen is joining our board," said CEO Rob Hawthorne, who was hired by Ocean Spray in January to lead a company turnaround. "His experience and insight, including 20 years running consumer products and beverage companies, will be invaluable to the Board as we work to return profitability to Ocean Spray's growers."

Pietersen is the former president of Tropicana Products, Inc., and the Seagram Beverage Group. He also served in top management positions with the Unilever Group, Sterling-Winthrop, Inc., and the United Distillers Group of North America.

Pietersen is chairman of the Institute for the Future, a think tank based in Menlo Park, Calif. He also serves on the Boards of Ruder-Finn, Inc., a New York-based public relations agency, and Lykes Brothers, Inc., a Florida agribusiness.

A Rhodes Scholar, Pietersen holds a B.A. and L.L.B. in law and economics from Rhodes University, South Africa, and an M.A. in law from Oxford University.

Related links:

Institute for the Future | Ruder-Finn, Inc. | Lykes Brothers - 1 - Lykes Brothers - 2 | Columbia Business School Executive Management Program


 

Gatorade goes Fierce

by Hal Brown

click to enlarge5/8/00 Click on the photo to enlarge, so you can read the incongruous label... this is one of several in the line of FIERCE (TM) Gatorade fruit drinks. To me, this particular sports drink has a very mild aftertaste of honey dew melon. A FIERCE melon? Hardly.Quaker touts their new FIERCE sports drinks as forming "a lineup of intensified tastes that give you what you want when you're going all out, or chilling in between challenges." To involve readers and add a sense of competition to their web page, they ask "what's your favorite Gatorade flavor? Now you can vote for it... and see how many other people agree." Of the four flavors, grape, berry, lime and melon; grape wins over fifty percent. I wonder how cranberry would have fared?

Will the FIERCE flavors be a big seller for Quaker? I spent $2.49 to try it; but that's because I couldn't imagine how a fierce melon would taste. I like my melons mellow; but then again I don't sweat in Technicolor. Quaker hasn't gone wrong with Gatorade yet, so I anticipate that these new drinks will offer some fierce competition on the juice aisle this summer.


Farm Labor
Immigration

5/5/00 Oregon's Senator Gordon Smith has attached an amendment to help farmers who rely on immigrant labor to the high tech workers immigration bill. Read the story from The Oregonian Here.

Snapple leads Triarc to first quarter surge

5/8/00 Business Wire: Triarc Companies, Inc.  announced today a 10% increase in Snapple® case sales in the 2000 first quarter which fueled a 26% increase to $14.0 million in premium beverage adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, other non-operating items, depreciation and amortization and unusual or non-recurring items). Compared to the first quarter of 1999, total adjusted EBITDA for consumer products increased 14% to $29.6 million reflecting continued strength at Snapple, Stewart's®, Royal Crown® and Arby's®. Read press release here.


South Beach Bulletin:

Growers dig in...

5/8/00 New: Click below to read entire article. "In all likelihood, we're not even going to cover the cost of growing cranberries in ' 99, and probably not for ' 98 as well... Although some management decisions have hurt the industry, oversupply is certainly the heart and soul of the problem. Last fall Ocean Spray had a record crop of approximately 1 million barrels more than planned.... Certainly everyone is suffering. Newer growers tend to have higher debt loads and it's going to be especially difficult for many of them." Former Ocean Spray board chairman Don Hatton as quoted in the article "Growers dig in as cranberry prices plunge" by Barb Aue in the Grayland area weekly, the South Beach Bulletin. Read entire article here.

 Previous edition: John Wilson named to head grower relations
Stock market down but food stacks up
Swendrowski questions Ocean Spray accounting procedures, calls for judicial review
First Pioneer: growers have until July to make spring payments
Makepeace to develop huge tract | Getting Soaked: Drop in cranberry prices threatens industry
Former board member (Kapell) speaks out

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