How can you order a farmer to destroy their trees? I hope he fights in a higher court. Wish I’d heard about the nectarine giveaway. I’d have gone to pick some.

  • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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    13 hours ago

    Predictably, they refused like 50% of his crop one year.

    Then he sold to someone else, and obviously got sued.

    This shit should be illegal. If they want to lock him in to only selling to them, it should be required that they buy everything he’s produced at an agreed on rate before he does any work.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      It’s a private agreement he signed voluntarily after he had the rights to grow and while he could sell to anyone for any price…

      It’s legal in the same way I can sell you my house for a dollar, I could do it, but I’d be an idiot.

      He didn’t have to sign that, he just did it.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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        12 hours ago

        There’s shit that should be illegal no matter how a contract is written. An example that comes to mind is how landlords love to put things in a lease that aren’t legally enforceable.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          Then it sounds like you want an authoritarian nanny state…

          Which actually isn’t surprising

          Pre-emptive edit:

          The point being if “unfair” contracts are illegal, then the government is the one saying what contracts are fair.

          And a single look in the general direction of the American government, should I dictate why that’s a bad plan.

          The most likely result, is the rich abuse it, and suddenly “fair” just means “fuck over the poors”.

            • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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              10 hours ago

              Whether or not a contract is “fair” has absolutely nothing to do with legality.

              If I want to sell you my house for a $1, then that’s legal.

              If you manipulate me, or coerce me, not legal.

              That is how it is supposed to work.

              If I can’t sell you my house for $1, what price will the state let me sell?

              $1k? 10k? 100k?

              What happens when there’s a market crash and the state doesn’t want to acknowledge by letting homes sell for less?

              What about the other way? What if they say 100k is too much and no matter what my house can only be sold for 10k? Do you think that would be a land of cheap houses or do you realize it would quickly lead to only rentals ever being available and shit benefits from property taxes while landlord income skyrockets?

              And I know, a one time sale of a house isn’t the same as contracted selling of a crop…

              But trust me, this is easier to explain and pretty much the same thing.

              Hell, I grew tobacco growing up, and like most crops the government will buy pretty much anything at below market price exactly for stuff like this. It’s a hugely important part of being any kind of farmer to know about this program

              I don’t expect any of you to know anything about that

              But a guy buying an orchard should.

              And anyone signing any sort of sales and distribution deal, needs a lawyer.

              If it’s exclusive you need the most lawyer you can afford

              • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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                10 hours ago

                Contracts are meaningless without the state as an enforcement mechanism. The state has an interest in contracts, which it defines in like, ‘contract laws’. These laws put superseding constraints on contracts. I understand, that in the case of this farmer, no laws may have been broken. What I’m saying is that there could (and perhaps should) be such a law. Just like in a residential lease, the landlord can’t override legal protections.

                • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                  10 hours ago

                  Contracts are meaningless without the state as an enforcement mechanism

                  No one is disagreeing with you.

                  What I’m saying is that there could (and perhaps should) be such a law

                  Based on what? Like, what should the law be about?

                  Just like in a residential lease, the landlord can’t override legal protections.

                  You’re being vague and hand wavy and not thinking of what happens.

                  Are you banning exclusivity?

                  Are you saying the state needs to set “fair” prices?

                  What are you actually suggesting become illegal?

                  • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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                    10 hours ago

                    I was agreeing with a previous commenter, that if the company wants to enforce exclusivity, that should only be enforceable so long as they purchase his crop.

      • darkangelazuarl@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Yes and manufacturing and mining occupations volunteered to work in horrible conditions before they were regulated. They had a choice. They could have just not worked those jobs. What idiots. /s

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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        12 hours ago

        He didn’t have to sign that, he just did it.

        Or maybe he was coerced, or didn’t have any other options, or trusted the company was going to give him a fair shake. Maybe he is an idiot. That doesn’t mean that corporations with millions to spend on lawyers should be able to destroy peoples livelihoods because they can throw more money at the legal system. The law is supposed to protect everyone. And destroying perfectly good food on top of that?

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          Or maybe he was coerced,

          Then it’s illegal and not valid…

          Or didn’t have any other options,

          What? He could have sold to anyone, and signed an exclusive distribution contract…

          He had every other option and threw them all away

          or trusted the company was going to give him a fair shake.

          Then he’s a fucking idiot…

          And destroying perfectly good food on top of that?

          How the fuck are you this deep in this thread and still think food was destroyed?

          The fruit itself, likely ran out incredibly quickly. This was a huge story a couple months ago.

          Like, just in general, I’m not going to keep explaining the same shit, when you’re clearly not understanding this. I don’t even think you’re reading these comments.

          • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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            11 hours ago

            Literally the first line of the fucking article:

            A California farmer has been ordered to destroy his fruit orchard after giving away thousands of pounds of free food.

            From the other article:

            Under the agreements, Mora was to pay Giumarra a royalty of $2.50 per tree and a 4% production royalty based off the gross sales of the fruit the trees produced, as well as a sales commission.

            “They sold me hope and a big dream that I thought I could participate in with them," he said.

            Mora alleges that up to half of the nectarines he provided to Giumarra in 2020 were thrown away, reducing his profits. The company disputes this, and the judge overseeing the case found that the statute of limitations for those claims had passed.

            They fucked him.

            And he didn’t have other options, this kind of fruit is patented (also bullshit) and he had to sign on with this packer. Trees take years to grow, he can’t just switch over to another one at the drop of a hat.