Strawberries being destroyed

I almost put this in the old Ridiculous thread, but since it's about food, here we go. In Flordia, farmers are destroying their fields of strawberry crops. Apparently, the selling prices are so low because of oversaturation in the market that they can't even cover the costs of shipping the food to market.

Lots of people in the state are pretty angry about it. What's your opinion? Should it be a crime, as one person in the article suggested, to plow food under like that? One farmer apparently opened up his fields to local residents to pick what they wanted. Should the others do the same?

First, let me say that I can understand and sympathize with the plight of the farmers and feeling that they have no alternative but to take such drastic action as this because they can't make a go of it with their crops. It must make them feel terrible.

I also remember reading something similar to this a few years ago. I think at that time the crop was tomatoes though. Whatever the crop, it is still devastating.

With that said, I think it is absolutely shameful that farmers are doing this. If for no other reason than all the people who go to bed hungry here in the nation of plenty, the USA. And, yes, there are people here who are hungry and who do not have enough food to eat for whatever reason. I think it's a good thing that some farmers are letting people get the strawberries instead of plowing them under, but I can see where that is really not a solution for the farmers. If people think they can get stuff for free, then they may abuse the priviledge. I think donating the product to a homeless shelter, hospital or health care home, or anywhere needy people might benefit would be a good idea. Anywhere the food will be used and appreciated the most.

I would be very careful about destroying food, or any product like this. One day, we may not have the priviledge of being able to have farms or growing foods like this. Then what???????

I agreee with SS on this, senseless waste like this makes me rather angry. These farmers clearly lack in the intelligence department if all they care about is how much money it can net them this season. Don't get me wrong, I understand produce is how they make their living, but surely anything is better than destroying perfectly good food like that.

And further more, they ought to have considered alternatives to selling them as fresh, such as canning, preserving, and freeze drying. It's not like strawberries are a one item product. :/

That's really messed up that they're just plowing the fields like that. I hope that doesn't mean there's not gonna be strawberries anymore.

Just goes to show...if there is not money to be made, people just won't do things. It seems the idea of helping our fellow man just to HELP is dead anymore.

All those strawberries... destroyed. ;_; That makes me so sad. (Strawberries are one of my favorite foods!) I agree with a lot of you up there. You can kind of understand where the farmers were coming from, but when so many people can't afford to eat well, it almost makes me sick to think of all the food that they're destroying.
It's amazing; the people that can't afford to eat well aren't just the starving poor in a faraway country. I've had neighbors tell me that they never ate a whole banana until they were adults, because they're family could never afford to give them a whole one. I've had teachers tell me that, at one point in their lives, they could only afford one can of sardines for an entire week.

It's a senseless waste, I know, but just imagine how many strawberries they have, they would be losing so much money, they would need to pay strawberry pickers so they would already be at a loss not to mention the expenses it cost to sow them and keep them growing. Donating them to a shelter would be great but the farmers need to think of themselves first before others.
I know that sounds selfish but its human nature to look out for yourself because if you don't, then who will.

I do understand that the farmers do need to make money, but at the same time--freezing the strawberries and donating them to poorer areas wouldn't be that hard, would it? It saddens me to hear such news.