E.g., : recent posts on either pen-l or lbo about the water for irrigation in the central valley of california; assignment of shelf-space for products in supermarkets; [snip]
Apparently Carol can't tell reality from conspiricy.
There are companies in the U.S that pay large sums of money for procuring ideal product placement on the shelves of *all* chain supermarkets, the local managers (read regional)are allowed a bit of leeway but not much.
It is common knowledge, and the supermarkets encourage it and speak of it to anyone who wants to market their brand of ...cookies... Alice B. Toklas brownies... whatever, at any level beyond strictly local markets.
The water subsidies in California ($.10/$1.00+-) are due to expire in the early part of the 21st century and is an incredibly politically charged issue around Watsonville and all other ag areas of California, and has been for years (along with the salinization of the water table due to aquifier overuse along coastal growing areas in the state).
I recommend: Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner, as a reality/conspiricy check before you promulgate anymore delusional rantings about the nature of conspiricy Vs reality in agriculture.
Leigh www.leighm.net http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com/