‘Superfood’ (Acai) Promoted on Oprah’s Site Robs Amazon Poor of Staple

[RamboLiberal]

Rising U.S. sales of acai, a purple Amazon berry promoted as a “superfood” on Oprah Winfrey’s Web site, are depriving Brazilian jungle dwellers of a protein-rich nutrient they’ve relied on for generations.

U.S. consumers are turning a “a typical poor people’s food into something like a delicacy,” said Oscar Nogueira, who specializes in the fruit at Embrapa, Brazil’s agricultural research company.

Spending on acai-based products by Americans seeking to lose weight, gain energy or slow aging doubled to $104 million last year, according to SPINS, a Schaumburg, Illinois-based market research firm. Since U.S. demand took off early this decade, the fruit’s wholesale price in Brazil has jumped about 60-fold, Embrapa data show.

In 2008, exports from Para, the South American country’s main producing state, climbed 53 percent to account for about a quarter of output, according to the local government. Production, though, has increased little in the past five years.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ai8WCgSJrhmY&refer=latin_america

[babylonsister]

1. And why can't this stuff be grown somewhere in the US?

Anyone? Sounds like a goldmine for someone. Wish I had a bigger garden.

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. And NOT by Monsanto, ADM, or anyone else that would mutate it

into some GMO FrankenFood devoid of the nutritive properties that made it a "superfood" to begin with.

The tropical rainforest environment would be hard to reproduce anyway, but what about Hawaii?

[babylonsister]

5. FL/TX/SC/AL/LA and irrigation.

Might work. Those climates, among others, qualify heat and humidity-wise. Maybe.

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. Let's keep Texas and Florida out of it.

Don't want the Bush Crime Family making any money off of it.

[EndersDame]

21. Yeah because there are no hippy farmers in Texas

I happen to know plenty of hippy-ish organic family farmers in the Central Texas Region

[readmoreoften]

27. Heck more than plenty. Local organic farming is way bigger here than in most places in the US.

With the exception of Northern California and Oregon, Central Texas (particularly Austin) has the largest thriving local food system syndicate I know of. The fact that they just shut down Good Flow Juice after decades for not being pasteurized is heartbreaking.

[EndersDame]

29. Oh no! I just moved from Austin to Waco

I am coming back to visit friends and family and one of the things I wanted to do was Go to Kerby and get a large glass of Good Flow Orange Juice with a cup of Black Coffee and some pancakes

[kimmerspixelated]

33. There you go!

[TZ]

25. But not the right soil

The Amazon is a UNIQUE climate/ecosystem. There is a reason why stuff found in the Amazon is not found elsewhere.

[babylonsister]

32. OK, that makes sense. Thanks. nt

[w4rma]

8. No cheap labor here, except for illegally. (nt)

[TZ]

23. No place in the US is like the Amazon rainforest.

in terms of soil, climate etc.... It would have to be greenhouse grown. Which is expensive and limiting.

[slackmaster]

2. That stuff should be banned for the email spam that gets sent out hawking it

:argh:

[RamboLiberal]

7. That was my first thought as well

:evilgrin:

[MineralMan]

3. Let them eat Brazil Nuts then....

Or brioche. :sarcasm:

[aikoaiko]

6. First guns and ammo, now this. the end is near.

;)

[liberalmuse]

9. My sister and I were joking about Oprah last weekend.

She really tries to do good, but everything she does seems to backfire in a really bad way. I can't even list all the generous things she's done that have gone horribly wrong. It must be karma for unleashing Dr. Phil on us. I actually lost a relationship with an aunt because I did not go nuts over his book she sent me several years ago. He came across as a phony, though I didn't tell her that. Needless to say, my lack of enthusiasm resulted in being cut off. Then again, my paternal family is a little eccentric and there's never been a time when at least a handful of members weren't speaking to the other members.

[MADem]

14. Ah DEW uh KILLER immeh-tay-shun of Dr. FEE-yull!!!!

If I do say so myself. We despise the man and think he's a blowhard of the first order. He's just so easy to mock.

I can also do a pitch-perfect imitation of John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar," which is always good for a guffaw as well.

I think Oprah needs to make herself a bit "less available." When you're every-frigging-where, you're asking for criticism.

[MADem]

11. What's wrong with blueberries and cranberries?

:rant: All this emphasis on exotic crap is just BULLSHIT. If it worked so well, poor Oprah wouldn't look like she's aged fifteen years in two, now, would it? And what ever happened to the carbon footprint argument? All the energy spent trucking that crap here is fouling the air and robbing people of their golden years. Reduce your piggy carbon footprint, have some local cranberry juice, sit down, and shut up!! :rant:

Some people just love to be little consumers, and be the first with the latest. I'll have me some blueberry pie, thanks anyway! Ummmm ummmm, good!

[izquierdista]

13. Save me a slice

And continue with your rant, I'm with you 100%. I will bet that 59 of that 60-fold increase in price is going to middlemen, and not to Brazilian farmers with a few acai plants to tend. Me, I don't need any acai, my back yard is overrun with blackberries.

[MADem]

15. It's good eatin', too. Local made! nt

[EndersDame]

16. Yuppies cant feel Hip and "Global" with blueberries

They gotta show off at the Whole Foods how hip and trendy they are with a global palette by purchasing a totally organic Acai smoothie whilst us pedestrian peasantry purchase blueberries and strawberries

[MADem]

18. Hell, we go out back and pick 'em!

It drives me nuts, the people who insist that "foreign" is better whilst they flit around the USA.

They're the same people who travel to France and Italy and rave about how the food is so damn good because it's all "local!"

I like local chow. That's not to say I won't enjoy something exotic every once in a blue moon, I absolutely can do that-- but I'm not going to pitch a fit because I'm drinking cranberry juice instead of froufrou juice, or eating a Vermont apple instead of some farty fruit I can't pronounce, or eating a big old Maine potato instead of some oddball imported grain I never knew existed until I was over fifty!

The really cool people buy their stuff close to home, when they can! IMO.

[EndersDame]

19. I try to buy and grow local as much as I can

Fruit and veggies simply taste better because it takes less time between the harvesting and the eating. My strawberry plant isnt doing so well though. I also try to drink local beer when i can afford it because Shiner,Real Ale and Live Oak brew their beers to a way that is adjusted to Texas life ( i might just be talking out of my ass but at least it keeps Hill Country folk employed)

[MADem]

31. I had an orchard on my lawn when I lived overseas.

And I didn't have much "lawn" at any rate--I gave that over to the neighbors so they could grow tomatoes and give some to me! I had oranges, lemons, kumquats, figs, cherries, pears, and walnuts...and the aforemention tomatoes and basil. Oh, and some potatoes and carrots, too.

Best part? I didn't have to lift a finger...the neighbors maintained it, and we all shared. They had a few things in their gardens too, and some had chickens, and the guy behind me, pigs. Talk about LOCAL!!!

[sandnsea]

20. We have so many local berries

We could feed all the hungry all winter if people would just go pick them, not to mention the fruit that just plain drops from trees in the neighborhoods every year. It's insane how much food is truly wasted because if it didn't come from a store it must not be any good to eat. It's just bizarre.

[izquierdista]

34. Here's what we do

I've made that same observation many places that I have traveled through. I have come up with an idea, but don't know quite how to implement it. Maybe some DUers can help me flesh out this idea, and maybe put it in practice in your community. I call it "Public Space Agriculture" and it can be practiced as follows:

1) Plant the sidewalks, highway medians, public parks, schoolyards with edible plants. No oleanders, azaleas, holly, or any of that crap that looks good the couple of weeks a year that it is in bloom, but is useless otherwise.

2) Organize the homeless or school kids to maintain the plants, harvest them and pack them for local sale. The city could have a day labor option for the homeless who wanted to earn some money, and they would be keeping the city looking nice. Schools could use it as a teaching experience for children to learn where food comes from (not Kroger's).

3) When the harvest comes in, the city could give some to the needy, sell some fresh, and preserve the rest, canned with some label showing local pride.

Done right, there could be many winners with such a plan. The only losers would be supermarkets and big agribusiness which would see a drop-off in their sales.

[csziggy]

35. Campbells Soup and the Future Farmers of America (FFA) are promoting community gardens

http://www.helpgrowyoursoup.com/

If you click on the Grow link, they donate seeds to the gardens. If you enter codes from soup cans, you can get free seeds!

[islandmkl]

12. google 'acaipure' and see what comes up:

second on the google search list: COMPLAINTS website!!

...guess how i knew that??....read the nature of the complaints...nice scam, nice endorsement, Oprah...

in case you are inclined to respond 'Everyone should always read the terms and conditions...'...yeah, you're right...

yet, my answer is that legitimate NON-SCAMS do not have such problems 'caused' by their terms and conditions...

[MineralMan]

17. Wait....what? I thought Jojoba was the coming thing.

Maybe I overslept again for a few years...

[sallylou666]

22. Latest Diet Fad-YAWN!

This is just another diet fad that will soon fizzle out. The juice is selling for about $26 a quart bottle where I live. I haven't tried this overpriced stuff. Plain old fruit of various kinds is good enough for me. I'm enjoying berry season right now.

[earth mom]

24. Oprah did a show about some island in Maine recently & I told my hubby-

Watch out-now everyone will want to move there which will kill the charm and choke the long term residents out.

Oprah needs to get a clue about the damage she does.

Because everything she does is NOT "all good". :puke:

[TZ]

26. More damage done by Oprah

Between this and using celebrities to push pseudoscientific agendas, she's long past doing more harm than good. I'm really beginning to loathe her. And wonder about her intelligence to tell you the truth. She seems to fall in love with every dumb scam that comes by.

[readmoreoften]

28. Falls in love with dumb scams because that's what gets and keeps her rich. /nt

[Occam Bandage]

30. So farmers are selling it for more money, bringing more money into their local economies.

This is bad why?