Middleboro
visitors greeted by ag friendly banners
9/18/02 As
visitors and residents enter and leave Middleboro on the town's historic
South Main Street, lined with impressive mansions, they only have to
glance overhead to see two of three large banners promoting agriculture.
The one pictured above urges Middleboro residents to turn out for the
September 23rd Town Meeting to vote in favor of establishing an
agriculture commission. The second promotes the
Soule Homestead Annual
Farm Fair and Folk Festival on Sept. 22nd and 23rd. The third is for the
annual Herring Run Art Festival.
Click here or on the picture for a pictorial of the banners and
of Middleboro's S. Main Street mansions.
Links on
proposed Middleboro Ag Commission:
Stressline article,
Gazette article
Editorial
Columbus was an explorer and a businessman
9/16/02 -- A poster on
the Forum who calls himself Christopher Columbus writes about Ocean Spray:
"the people who are in charge of
making the decisions have decided not to pursue a sale. We don't need any
more distractions. Focus on the future and stop worrying about things
you don't have any control over."
I am prompted to wonder
whether had this poster been living
in Spain in 1492, would he have even given the time of day to the real
Columbus, let alone given him support or encouragement? Columbus, a
businessman as well as an explorer, didn't sail off to find a new world, he set about to
find a westward route to Asia. Either would have been a crazy idea for
most people. A distraction! But after Columbus found no support in
Portugal, he moved to Spain where he managed to persuade Queen Isabel and
King Fernando to support his mission.
Columbus lived in a time
where monarchs ruled with rarely questioned authority. Today we live in a
democracy and Ocean Spray growers belong to the ultimate of democratic
companies, a cooperative. However, some of them seem to be thinking like
the subjects of the kings and queens of fifteenth century Europe.
CONTINUED
Another Cran,
and it's "Ravin' "
9/5/02 It isn't "cravin" but it is called "Ravin'
Red." As far as we can determine, it isn't an Ocean Spray Product either.
But it is a a beverage which utilizes the first syllable of the word
cranberry on its label.
Ocean Spray has registered "cran" as a trademark.
"Cran" is what is called a morphene, an element of language that carries a
constant, indivisible meaning. It is unusual enough to have a separate
section devoted to it on a web page from the
Linguistics Department of the University of Rochester. The term
"cranberry morphene" is even listed in the
Concise Oxford Dictionary of
Linguistics (Oxford University Press 1997).
The soda is manufactured by the
Sprecher Brewing
Company out of Glendale, Wisconsin.
See entire label
scan along with pictures of several other "cran" products
OpEd
Growers right to vote
Sept. 13th deadline.
By
Gregory Gitter – President
Wisconsin Cranberry Cooperative
9/4/02 -- With
the upcoming September 13th deadline to submit written
comments to the USDA/AMS , I would urge all growers to support
the “right to vote issue”.
A number of
proposals have been made to Section 929.22 Nomination and 929.23
Selection to guarantee growers the right to elect representatives
to the cranberry marketing committee.
Lets review who
does and does not support the growers right to vote issue. CONTINUED
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Middleboro establishes Agricultural Commission
9/24/02 Once a quorum was reached after 45 minutes, a fast-paced
Middleboro Special Town Meeting moved quickly through six articles
on the warrant and voted unanimously to establish an agricultural
commission.
8/22/02 Agricultural Commission to be proposed at Special Town
Meet, Middleboro Gazette
Tech News:
www.cranberrystressline.com activated on new host
9/21/02 For those of you following the changes in Cranberry
Stressline, we have completed step one. Moving a web site from one
host to another takes time. For one thing, you have to prove you
are who you say you are. For another, it takes a few days for name
servers across the Internet to update. If
www.cranberrystressline.com was the address in your favorites,
you already saw our interim test page if your name server
processed the change, and you may have noticed that cranberry
stressline is now displayed on your browser address bar.
If
you have
oocities.com/cranberrybogs saved as a favorite, you can see
the test page by clicking
here.
Don't make any changes yet. We'll let you know when to change the
address in your favorite list.
Once
a few technical problems are worked out, the web site will be
entirely on ehostsource, our new host company. At that time anyone
who ends up on the Geocities site will be redirected to the
ehostsource site.
Then
Cransoft will be working on putting an onsite search function on
the web site.
Changes
in store for Stressline
9/17/02 Thanks to the efforts of six senior students from the
University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth who have made Cranberry
Stressline their class project, readers will see some changes over
the next couple of months.
CONTINUED
Obituary
George Norman Clairmont
George Norman
Clairmont, age 60, of 131 Cross Mill Road, Northfield, NH died
Saturday, September 14, 2002 from injuries suffered following a
helicopter accident near the cranberry bogs where he was working
in Rochester, MA.
George was born
in Laconia, NH on December 28, 1941, son of George and Elsie S.
(Rollins) Clairmont.
CONTINUED
Growers
lose friend in helicopter crash
9/15/02 George Clairmont, 60, was killed yesterday while
off-loading dry picked berries for Morse Brothers Cranberries at
the Gerrish Road bog in Rochester. George flew for
Joe Brigham
Helicopter service, one of the two main aerial applicator
companies used by cranberry growers on the south shore. He was
pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported.
According to newspaper reports, "Federal
Aviation Administration spokesman William Stevens stated that one
of the crates swung and hit the helicopter's tail rotor, according
to the Associated Press. The rotor broke off and the helicopter
plummeted to the ground at about 11:45 a.m."
However, some of those at the scene report that there was an
engine problem prior to anything hitting the tail rotor.
Most
growers got to know George having shouted conversations with him
over the roar of his helicopter engines as he sat in his pilot's
seat while his side tanks were being loaded.
Last
Monday George
transported former President Bush to a New England Patriots game.
From
the Standard Times:
But his evasive action saved
the lives of bog workers, said Chip Morse, vice president of Morse
Brothers and a fourth-generation cranberry grower.
"We had 35 people under him.
It's an absolute miracle no one else died," said Mr. Morse.
"It was only his expertise
that did it," Mr. Morse said. "As that engine is dying, you have
seconds -- I mean, one, two, three, and you're down."
When Mr. Clairmont realized
he was in trouble, he discharged his load of cranberries and
veered off to try and land away from people on the ground, Mr.
Morse said.
"He did a great job," Mr.
Morse said. Then he added, "It's an absolute shame. It's a
tragedy."
Read Article.
August Edition |
Drought aggravates cranberry ills: Some
berry farmers turning to other jobs,
9/27/02 Boston Globe
"October is Cranberry Month"
Press Release
Warrens Cranberry Fest to
Celebrate Another Harvest,
9/26/02 WI Ag Connection
Makepeace land:
"$31M for 6,200
acres not enough, owner says"
9/27/02 Patriot Ledger
Did you know that Ocean Spray has become a major player in powdered cranberry supplements? Read
"Extracts Exposed: from the Ocean Spray Technology
Group" in the 9/26/02 edition of
Food Navigator. Learn about what Ocean Spray is doing in this niche market from "a global food
ingredients news web site based in Europe (that) aims to provide a
European-driven view of food formulation and design."
"Color Borden Town cranberry this October during annual fete" in the
9/26/02 Register News.
In Ashland, Wisconsin,
The Daily Press
reported on their cranberry fesitval.
In Banden, Oregon, "Good cranberry crop expected" from the
9/22/02 Statesman Journal.
Also, an article titled "Better price anticipated for Oregon
cranberry harvest this year" from the Associated Press,
9/1/02 in the Seattle Times.
Television station channel six, WKOIN, reported a similar story.
Wisconsin to have average harvest
9/22/02 WI Rapids Daily Tribune
World Juice Conference, Netherlands 10/14-16
Co-ops:
At the "Crossroads"
on AgWeb
9/19/02 Farmers harvest white
cranberries,
Marshfield (WI) News-Herald News
9/19/02 White seems right
Growers who harvest early berries like their bonus
WI. Rapids Daily Tribune
Grapefruit
Citrus
growers file suit vs. state, 9/13/02
TC Palm Tribune
White
berries put green in growers pocket in 9/12/02
Burlington County News
A great year for Russia:
Hardly any of its food glows in the dark 9/12/02 in
Seattle PI
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