The closing of the auction system killed a lot of small gardens, the big companys, Woolworths, New World,etc, went to the big growers and demanded so many ' cabbages ' per day, 365 days,
The small, often Chinese, gardener who was able to make a living by selling his ' cabbages' when they were ready wasn't able to compete, so they have dissapeared.
Down one road near Palmerston North there were 28 gardens, all doing well, improving their machinery to make their life easier, now, there are none,
Support farmers markets, they keep the little man alive.
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Hey Len, lovely to see you again, How have you been?
There is still a auction system in Auckland, but don't think it's as big as what it used to be.
That's sad there are no more farmers in Palmerston North.
There are the Farmers markets, there used to be in Botany a store called craft world it was really cool, it was like a craft market opened everyday of the week, that was only around for a few years, but there was talk many years ago of opening in Howick a Farmers Market along the same lines of opening every day, but don't know what happened.
"Hey Len, lovely to see you again, How have you been?"
I have been keeping my head down as usual, still on my aeroplane kick, doing all the aircraft the RNZAF have had.
In the day, there was a major market in each large town, the growers from Pukekohe would set out about midnight to get to the Auckland markets on time.
As late as the 1960s there was a 'night cart' that serviced Papakura, his brother grew the best crops in Pukekohe, I wonder why?
We had The horticultural business, "Speciality Machinery" in Marton and serviced growers all over the country, with Marton Junction railway station close by we would despatch 4 to 5 Ute loads of spare parts every day,
Wow that is so interesting, when going out to Pukekohe now there doesn't look like many growers as there used to be 10-20 years ago, all the best stuff still comes from Pukekohe.
The markets are different also as there are only a handful of farmers markets left that the actually farmers attend to sell their products.
If I remember rightly these Pukekohe, Clevedon, Auckland, Ponsonby, and a few others, the rest the sellers buy from the farmers to sell, there will be a hand full of farmers, but the markets are open for everyone to sell what ever, than just home grown and hand made products as the Farmers Markets.
It used to be just the Auctioneer and the buyers, very quick, each box was called by the grower's name, a couple of bids, sold, and onto the next box.
The buyers were the shops, greengrocers etc, no civilians unless they bought a whole box of whatever it was
5 to 6 am was to early for them as well.
A very busy, noisy place, very confusing, and once was enough for me.
The few growers left in Puke are the big guys, lots of acres, large machinery, and grow to the Woolworths / New Worlds demand, and price.
They are told how much they will get before the seed in put in the ground.
With spuds, if it was a good year they would try and down grade the crop on its way into the factory, "it is not up to scratch, either dump the ton boxes or we will give you a quarter of the agreed price". In a bad year, they would charge the grower for not supplying the contracted quantitys
When the price goes up in the shops the extra doesn't find its way back to the grower.
It's really sad what it has become, it's all about convenience for customers, slowly the farmers are coming online, so hopefully it will get easier for customers to get directly from them without the middle man, so the farmers can get the extra profits.
Many years ago I remember seeing a documentary or something on tv about a grower from Puke and how they have had to change over the years from the demands to survive.