FROM THE CROWE'S NEST

A Bigger Future

As the globe shrinks and the number of stomachs grows, the demand for food will follow. For too many in the world any food is a luxury. But in some expanding economies luxury foods are one of the first things a rising middle class wants to flash. Lobster may not be a luury food in New England, but when it gets to Paris or Bejing it is.

The power of this demand has been illustrated by Japan’s lust for seafood, in particular bluefin tuna. But Japan’s appetite will likely be dwarfed by China’s in the near future.

China, its food described as the mother of all cuisines by a noted food writer, in many ways is all about food. The new Chinese economy could produce a middle class that will dwarf the one we used to have. China’s demand for imports from some sectors would raise many boats in the west.

The air-freighting calamity for lobster shippers over the Christmas holidays publicized the fact that lot of lobster leaves the Northeast on planes, big planes. The business was bigger 10 years ago when the large planes needed for air freight could land in Bangor and Portland. It’s been estimated that Maine now ships 10 to 20 million pounds of lobster annually.

Today lobster is trucked to New York, compounding the threats to this fragile cargo getting off the ground in good condition. Getting a better price for lobster has been an ongoing problem for lobstermen, and the air freight market should bring a better price. Processing lobster in Maine would also help the price and add an air freight product.

Maine is not going to build a JFK-scale airport just to air freight lobster, but there are two airfields here already that can handle large planes. Bangor and Brunswick have former military airfields that are possible sites. The Brunswick runway closed a year ago and there are plans for a civilian airstrip and Green Energy Park.

Lobster alone will not support maintaining an airfield of this scale. But if access to an air freight terminal exists, businesses that use high volume air freight would come. New Hampshire and Canadian lobster shippers would come to Brunswick before going to New York. Air freighting will be a bigger part of the food business future.