Nick Apostolakis said:

Pat Kiewicz wrote:

Pesticides are expensive, though, so I would think that a farmer might
be more likely to harvest vegetables that were nearly ready and ship them
out rather than spray them one more time. Fruits and vegetables aren't
something that a farmer can market-time the same way he could grain
or beans.

you could not be more wrong. it is common knowledge that the early
season products always have better prices (for the producer that is) in
domestic and international markets.

Yes, but the farmer takes his main gamble at *planting time.* It amazes
me just how early the first plantings of sweet corn, melons and such are
made locally. Some years the growers that take those chances win, and
sometimes they lose. But there's no way he can put those melons into
storage for months to time the market, as he could with grain. He can only
push the harvest by a little bit. And he really can't hold it off at all.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)