Musings on the supply chain

[jhetley]

Maine now sees the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, on a propane pinch. See, most of the state doesn't have access to piped natural gas, so people use propane for home heating, industrial processes, and restaurant cooking. Well, most of the gas comes via Canada, via rail, and Canada just had this little "job action" on the railroad...

Few people realize how little reserve "the system" offers in most basic supplies. Our whole economy, not just manufacturing, relies on "just in time" deliveries.

Off on a tangent, some bright entrepreneur just built a gazillion acres of greenhouse space in central Maine, devoted to growing vine-ripened tomatoes in the dead of winter for the fresh vegetable trade. We have tried them. They seem to be actual food -- tough, to survive handling, but with flavor, and sour rather than bitter. The target market, of course, is Boston, not Podunk Hollow. Still...

Comments

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

What's funny is that pot growers have the same idea: apparently, they're buying up isolated farmhouses and converting them into grow houses, with taps into the municipal lines to bypass power and water meters. Personally, I like the idea of the grow houses in principle, and I'm just waiting to see how many people start doing this with non-illegal but profitable crops on properties that just aren't worth the effort for conventional farming.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Goes along with the mushroom farm in upper state NY?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Gee, I thought mushroom farms pervaded the economy -- "Keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em horseshit."