Hot potato

A recent event here in Greece that many people overseas may not know about is the potato movement. It all started by a group of individuals in northern Greece who decided to cut out the middleman and sell potatoes directly from the farmer to the consumer. At the time, almost a month ago now, potatoes were selling around the one euro mark in supermarkets and farmers markets around Greece. The little group on individuals managed to get a price of 25 cents a kilo directly from the producer. Potato growers typicaly get paid 10 cents a kilo by wholesalers so it was a sweet deal for them. Ten kilos of potatos for 2.5 euros or for ten to twelve euros at the market. Grower direct off the truck and with a receipt hand written on the spot. All legal and win, win, win. Sure I too am excited although my kids don't eat potatoes. The story aired on the news and within a week mayors and other organizations started to copycat everywhere around Greece. Here in Nafpaktos it was the labour hall that organized the potato sale and the instant response was 70 tons of potato at 33 cents a kilo off the truck. You have to order in advance and it takes a few days for the order to arrive but it is a sweet deal. Watching people line up to load up on cheap potatoes is like a breath of fresh air. To think that the middlemen in this country have been marking up produce, and everything else for that matter, up to tenfold makes me happy to see them pushed out of the way. They have been fighting back with mud. Representatives of the middleman have been apearing on news broadcasts trying to convince people how wrong and unsafe it is to buy potatoes without their help. How farmer direct is not fresh, or is in some way inferior, to their overpriced produce. They have also set up a very effective network around the countryside so that we have not seen a single potato grower on the news. They all refuse to be interviewed in fear of retribution. Middlemen are typicaly mafia types. I say keep buying direct and cut out the middleman. Why feed your enemy?