5 ms·

"American cash crop" is a little misleading (implies that its a substantial amount) when the article cites 3.5kg and 360g of harvests of saffron from American f

• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• stearns 2y ago
  The term "cash crop" refers to a crop that is grown for sale rather than use. So NYT is using it correctly, but I agree they could have chosen a better term for the headline, since "cash crop" doesn't really help to explain the article. Also, to be pedantic, 3.5kg was from one American farm, not "from American farms".
  • DidYaWipe 2y ago
    He also mentioned the 360g from another farm.
• j45 2y ago
  Maybe this article is trying to seed it for American consideration.
• ChuckMcM 2y ago
  At $100/g 3.5kg is $350,000 which is pretty decent cash for a crop that was planted in September and harvested in November. And unlike marijuana you probably don't need to have armed guards. I'm intrigued by the harvesting technique. Mostly because it looks like an interesting problem you might be able to work on with robotics.
  • herbst 2y ago
    As far as I understand there are machines or automations for this process. But it decreases the quality. We have saffron here in Switzerland and the reason it's premium priced is mostly because it's done the exact same way as 100 years ago.
  • paddim8 2y ago
    $100/g? You can buy it for less than 1/10 of that in Europe at least
    • ChuckMcM 2y ago
      I was just quoting the article. Apparently 'bespoke' saffron gets a premium?