Plantation Crops Plunder and Power

Question: Discuss about the Plantation Crops Plunder and Power. Answer: Introduction: This paper looks at how the heat wave negatively impacts the pineapple growers by increasing the cost of production and reducing demand due to close substitutes when prices increase due to low supply. The supply curve will shift inwards while there will upward movements along demand curve which increases price thereby making consumers to shift to substitute fruits due to elastic demand of pineapple. The market is the fresh fruit market. Pineapple is a fresh fruit sold in this market. Pineapple farmers fear that the prolonged heat will affect the demand and supply of the pineapple. This is because, such a heat will stunt the growth of the pineapple fruit given the nightly temperatures being high as well. The fruit is expected to get burnt and become unsalable due to heat wave in the Southeast Queensland that has hit its peak currently. This heat will further affect the locals and tourists who are the demanders of fresh fruits. As the fruit is getting close to harvest, they get seriously burned and this will cut supply leading to huge losses of money. Moreover, with the increased costs of producing pineapple due to extra need for protective sunblock film to protect pineapple and a polymer solutions which does change the fruits color, such burden are expected to be pass on to the final consumers. These factors will tend to change the equilibrium point, as demand will be low as resu lt of the increased price cost by cut on supply. With the price elasticity of demand for Pineapple in the market, the revenue coming from sale of pineapple will be negatively affected when the price is decreased and improved when the price is increased. The pineapple is very sensitive to the price due to the existence of many substitute fresh fruit products in the market (Kiprono, 2014). Therefore, when the price of the pineapple is increased relative to the prices of the related products, consumers will shift their consumption from pineapple to other related fresh fruits in the market. This will lead to reduce revenue received from the sale of pineapple. On the other hand, where the price of the revenue is reduced relative to that of related fresh fruits in the market, the demand for revenue will increase and with increased demand at less supply, more revenue will be achieved as explained in the diagram below. This is because the revenue is determined by the product of quantity sold and the price per unit of the pineapple sold (Ki prono, 2014). The limestone solution spray causes a negative externality to farmers who would want to sell their pineapple to fresh fruit market. This is because it turns the color to white which is unacceptable to the fresh fruit market but only for the cannery that do not care about the appearance. The farmers who sell their fruits in the fresh fruit market must further spray a polymer solution that does not alter the pineapples color. All these, adds to the marginal cost of producing and subsequently selling the pineapple to the fresh fruit market. To reduce this negative externality (limestone solution turning pineapple white and hence rejected at the fresh fruit market), it is suggested that other mechanisms that do not turn the color be applied. It is also suggested that the farmers should examine the right time to grow the pineapple so that they are not caught up with such heat wave that compels the use of sunblock. It is also suggested that farmers should sell to the cannery rather than fr esh fruit market that do not care about the appearance of the fruit to avoid the use of polymer solutions (Hancock, 2017). In summary, the paper has shown how the heat wave causes massive negative externality to pineapples growers who sell their produce to the fresh fruit market in Southeast Queensland. The heat wave burns the pineapples badly despite nearing harvest leading to massive loss on money and revenue for the farmers. Pineapple growers have the cost of producing and selling pineapples to the fresh fruit market increased because they must buy polymer solutions to remove the white colors caused by the limestone solution smeared as a sunblock to the pineapple fruits. However, despite this negative externality, a positive externality is recognized when the demand for polymer solutions and sunblock is increased hence making other people to get revenue and income from the heat wave (de Ancos, Snchez?Moreno Adolfo, 2017). It is recommended that growers should sell to the cannery rather than fresh fruit market to reduce the impact of this negative externality and improve the positive externality durin g the heat wave conditions. Famers are also encouraged to effectively predict the weather conditions and climate to know the best time to grow pineapple to avoid being caught up with heat wave. References de Ancos, B., Snchez?Moreno, C., Adolfo, G. (2017). Pineapple composition and nutrition. Handbook of Pineapple Technology: Postharvest Science, Processing and Nutrition, 221. Hancock, J. F. (2017). Plantation Crops, Plunder and Power: Evolution and exploitation. Routledge. Hanrahan, B. (2017). Frangipani Gardens. Univ. of Queensland Press. Kiprono, A. K. (2014). Adsorption characteristics of captafol pesticide by sediment and soil samples: apparent thermodynamic properties using spectroscopic methods (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi). McCarthy, M. (2017). Pineapple farmers apply 'sunblock' to fruit as Queensland heatwave reaches peak. ABC News, 1-4. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-20/pineapple-farmers-apply-sunblock-to-pineapples-in-heatwave/8196914 Paull, R. E., Bartholomew, D. P., Chen, C. C. (2017). Pineapple breeding and production practices. Handbook of Pineapple Technology: Postharvest Science, Processing and Nutrition, 16. Pride, A. (2017). Fruit Variety Size/Price Description.