John Kuthe > wrote in news:7c5dedf0-6da7-4e63-88e2-
:

> What ever happened to 99 cents a pound for cherries?

Lemme see...first, in 1971, the US pulled out of the Bretton Woods
Accord, then there was the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and in October 1973
there was the first energy crisis.

In 1976, there was a hike in the price of coffee, ostensibly caused by
"frost in Brazil" (which is something mythical like snow on the streets
of Toronto) which heralded the OPEC gambit applied to agricultural goods.

Another energy crisis in 1979 each one bumping up the world price of
petroleum products, making shipping costs a thing of the past.

And so on, Gulf War...Bosnia...Chechnya...and more recently Afghanistan
and Iraq. It all takes a toll on resources and usually results in a hike
in prices.

We will not be able to afford goods coming from 3000kms away, transported
by the most energy-inefficient means possible (trucking), except as
luxury items. And as the sellers wil not have the markets anymore, they
will stop producing in such great quantities and supply the local
markets.

Two things can be done (and which are not mutually exclusive):

1. Find a way to break the dependency on oil (not foreign oil, oil
altogether) and use alternate sources instead. Hydrogen comes to mind.

http://www.ballard.com/

2. Learn to enjoy local agricultural products (unless you live in a
desert of course), those that come from 100kms around your residence.

Actually, there is a third option open to you:

3. Move to where cherries will be local.

--

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest
of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest
good of everyone. - John Maynard Keynes