At least coffee 78, or small or large

At least coffee 78, or small or large?
Their Czech drag television broadcast a report on how supermarkets are developing at the expense of small shops. And they are very surprised by this. In fact, it makes sense. Supermarkets save time and often money. And at a time when most people want to enjoy their free time, no matter how, with whom, or with what, the time spent at the supermarket pays off. You can buy almost everything you need in one go and still have plenty of time left over. No one wants to run from shop to shop, where you can buy supposedly higher-quality products, but also significantly more expensive ones. After all, the overhead is higher when it is calculated on a much smaller number of items than at the supermarket. It is also true that the prices there are sometimes quite strange, but if you don't need something immediately when it appears, such as the Christmas collection in September, you can buy it for half price in the run-up to Christmas. And supermarkets can only afford to do this because there are impatient people who think that the fresh Christmas collection tastes different from the one they buy at half price. And in a small shop, you may not even find that collection, or you may find it at a price that is definitely higher than the pre-Christmas price in the supermarket. And collections are just a very striking example. Such goods exist.
The situation is similar with the size of agricultural enterprises and farms. The larger the farm, the lower the operating costs and the higher the yields. It doesn't matter whether they specialize in plant or animal production. It's just that at the moment, the only danger lurking behind large farms is Babiš. Yet he only has about seven percent of the market. But it's Babiš. And that's the problem. Babiš may have a market share of about seven percent, but in the eyes of fanatics, it's perhaps seventy. It's true that Babiš's companies are able to supply a large part of hypermarkets and supermarkets. But not everything you see in those markets comes from his companies.
These stores try to attract customers with products from local farmers. But customers are usually mainly interested in price. And because these products are much more expensive than those from large manufacturers, they are harder to sell. Because your wallet can determine your taste quite significantly. Even I, although I am not the poorest person, think about what I will or will not buy. And if I see a cheaper, yet equally tasty product in the range, I might buy Babiš's. Might, because I'm not interested in who owns the producer. Even when I do know, I am guided by price and then taste. For example, I like Debrecín sausages from Kostelec, but I don't like those from Javořice. I could give many similar examples. So price and taste are the deciding factors.
And then there are foods that someone produces directly for a given supermarket. In those cases, I have no idea who the producer is. Again, price and taste are the deciding factors. But even here, we're not talking about a local farmer or a small farm. Because you can find these products throughout the entire supermarket chain, and a small farm would definitely not be able to produce that much.
Babiš's opponents sometimes claim that Agrofert lives off subsidies and that Babiš steals those subsidies. I don't know how subsidies can be stolen, but a company like Agrofert must have such transparent accounting that no one can just take a subsidy crown. Now, however, our famous courts have found that Agrofert received subsidies unlawfully. These are entitlement subsidies, which are paid according to the number of hectares of cultivated land. So no one has the opportunity to influence them in any way. Nevertheless, our courts have concluded that Babiš could have influenced them. Subsidies that Errorunia came up with and that Errorunia officials pay out according to criteria they themselves created. So, the more hectares, the more subsidies. At the same time, our current government has decided to cut the subsidies sent from Brussels to large agricultural enterprises.
Well, the courts have ruled, and Minister Výborný, who has no experience in agriculture, wants to start clawing back those subsidies. I just don't know where he wants to send them. Back to Brussels? We'll see how this case develops. But Agrofert will certainly not take it lying down.
So I don't know, small or large? I think the days of going to the market every day to buy from local farmers are long gone. The tradition of small traders and farmers disappeared after 1948 and is unlikely to be revived. We have become too accustomed to buying in bulk and getting our food from large farms.