Harvesting (and separation of the pistil from the bloom) is the only work-intensive part and both are very amenable to 'robomation' using hue-based image processing. Tim Eck > -----Original Message----- > From: pbs [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Mark Mazer > Sent: Friday, January 13, 2017 1:57 PM > To: Pacific Bulb Society > Subject: Re: [pbs] Could Saffron Help Vermont Farmers? > > The minimum wage in Iran is one fifth of Vermont's. The minimum wage in > Spain is half, and in Afghanistan 'tis one sixteenth. How would green > mountain state growers ever expect to compete since labor is the significant > factor in the cost of saffron production? The proposition simply doesn't make > much economic sense unless there is sufficiently great value added > downstream. > > No more crocus here. Rodents ate the entire collection within months of our > arrival. Then they feasted on the babiana, and then sparaxis. > > Mark Mazer > Hertford, NC > > On Fri, Jan 13, 2017 at 1:05 PM, Judy Glattstein <jgglatt@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Calling saffron "the world's most expensive spice," a BBC article: > > http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37581228/ looks into what's > > involved in raising and harvest saffron in New England's ski-centric > > state of Vermont. > > > > So perhaps we'll have our choice of imported-from-Afghanistan or > > domestically-produced saffron. Paella for all! > > Fahrenheit > > Judy in the Garden State, where our weather is gleefully flip-flopping > > from nighttime lows of 9 degrees Fahrenheit to a daytime high of 59 > > degrees fahrenheit a week later > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/