“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!” was the cheery greeting from Truman Burbank in 1998 movie The Truman Show.
Truman’s entire life was recorded on webcams, even if he was unaware of that fact for most of his time in Seahaven, the fictional coastal town where he lived.
Fast forward 20 years and remote webcams are everywhere from our doorbells to the nursery. We can check the babysitter and the Amazon delivery guy with an app on our phone.
For the industry, is the move to transparency in produce marketing and the advance of technology creating the beginning of a “golden era” for produce webcams?
Just this past week, I received a news release about a new portal to gaze into:
From the release:
EarthCam is taking people around the world to Ein Harod, Israel with its newest live streaming webcam. Enjoy views of a beautiful piece of farmland where tomatoes are planted, grown and harvested. “Lycored’s live stream project will bring a closer look at the natural process happening every day in our fields,” said Zev Ziegler, Head of Global Brand & Marketing, Health, Lycored. “Our fields here are grown in Ein Harod, a kibbutz in northern Israel located in the Jezreel Valley near Mount Gilboa. This live webcam will give visitors a sneak peek to one of the most important proceedings in growing our products.”
TK: A live webcam of a tomato field isn’t exactly thrilling, but I love the transparency. I’m not aware of produce-related live webcams on U.S. farms or packinghouses. Can anybody point me to existing farm webcams? Why not broadcast live with a webcam of an entire produce convention? Why not have live webcams at the receiving docks at the biggest terminal markets, inside retail produce departments or on the packing line? An irrigation canal in Yuma? Inside the newsroom of The Packer?
I do see that there are live webcams at ports of entry in the U.S. Check out the webcam for Nogales Mariposa port here and the Pharr International Bridge here.
With Customs and Border Protection cutting back services to the import trade because of a surge in illegal border crossings in late March and early April, those port webcams will be must-watch TV.
