纽约时报 纽约小农场生意意外兴旺的背后(1)

Small Farms in New York are Experiencing a Surprising Boom, Here is Why

纽约小农场生意意外兴旺的背后

One Wednesday in early March, Abra Morawiec realized something seismic¹ was happening at her farm stand.

3月初的一个星期三，阿布拉·莫拉维克意识到，她的农场即将迎来巨变。

The month had been pretty quiet at the Feisty Acres table in the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan.

过去一个月，曼哈顿联合广场农贸市场的Feisty Acres摊位一直颇为冷清。

But that day, at the very start of social distancing, she had sold out of everything by 2 p.m.

然而，就在隔离开始的那天，才到下午两点，莫拉维克的摊位就已售空。

"I had to go home three hours early," Ms. Morawiec said.

“我只能比平时早三个小时回家了，”莫拉维克说。

After wondering whether her small farm on the North Fork of Long Island would survive the pandemic, this was good news.

对之前还在担心她位于长岛北福克的小农场是否能撑到疫情结束的莫拉维克来说，这倒是个好消息。

But the boom for Feisty Acres has coincided with a virtual collapse² at large-scale operations like Crescent Duck Farm, also based on Long Island.

然而，Feisty Acres的生意是兴旺起来了，同样位于长岛的Crescent鸭场等大规模经营的买卖却已走到破产边缘。

In operation for more than a century, Crescent produces a million ducks a year — about 4 percent of the industry total —

经过100多年的运营，如今的Crescent鸭场年销量已达100万只——约占行业总数的4%——

and was the supplier of choice for fine-dining restaurants in New York, including Jean-Georges and the River Cafe.

是Jean-Georges，River Cafe等纽约高级餐厅的首选供应商。

Those restaurants are closed now, and Crescent has been forced to lay off 80 percent of its workers.

由于疫情期间这些餐厅都已歇业，Crescent被迫裁掉了80%的员工。

When the lockdown came to the metropolitan³ area, the earth shifted under New York's farm-to-table supply chain.

当大都会地区也开始封城以后，纽约地区农场到餐桌的供应链已经发生了翻天覆地的变化。

All farms are reckoning with the disappearance⁴ of the restaurant market and the logistics of getting food directly to consumers.

所有农场现在都在考虑餐饮市场消失后自己的出路，考虑将石材直接送到消费者手中的物流问题。

But the agricultural landscape has completely reversed.

问题是，整个农业的形势已经彻底逆转。

Farms with a single crop meant for use in restaurants, like microgreens or edible⁵ flowers, face disaster,

只为餐厅提供一种作物，如绿叶蔬菜或食用花卉等食材的农场已经陷入灾难，

while those with diverse offerings (and especially root vegetables) have become bulwarks⁶ of the social order.

而那些供应多样化食材(特别是根茎类蔬菜)的农场已经成为当前社会秩序的中流砥柱。

After decades of struggle to prove they are sustainable businesses,

几十年来，小型农场一直在努力证明自己是可持续经营，

small farms seem to be flourishing, while factory farms, in many cases, find themselves too big to pivot⁷.

如今，他们似乎终于迎来了繁荣，相比之下，很多工厂化的农场却发现自己已经尾大不掉。

Blue Star Farm, a 10-acre operation in the Hudson Valley north of New York City,

占地10英亩的Blue Star农场位于纽约市北部哈德逊河谷地带，

is feeling a kind of uncomfortable success since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo issued a stay-at-home order.

自从州长安德鲁·M·科莫发布了居家隔离的命令，该农场迎来了堪称令人不安的成功。

The farm's sales have increased during the quarantine.

隔离期间，该农场的销售额意外出现了显著的增长。

1 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

4 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

5 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

6 bulwarks   

n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙

参考例句：

• The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty. 新闻自由是自由最大的保障之一。 来自辞典例句
• Surgery and X-irradiation nevertheless remain the bulwarks of cancer treatment throughout the world. 外科手术和X射线疗法依然是全世界治疗癌症的主要方法。 来自辞典例句

7 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。