Needing an oil palm "fruit cluster" for movie -- ($400 finders fee)

[epotratz]

Hello,

We have a film shoot on June 28th here in Portland OR.

The film will be used for a promotional video for an upcoming product -- Palm Fruit.

We are trying to obtain a full palm fruit cluster, similar to what is seen in the attached picture. We are needing a fruit cluster from "elaeis guineensis" or "elaeis oleifera", also known as the "oil palm".

We are willing to pay a $400 to anyone who can find the fruit cluster, cut it from the tree, and ship it to arrive by June 28th. (we will pay shipping costs)

I understand that this tree is occasionally grown in Florida. We are looking to have the fruit shipped from within the US to avoid customs problems at the boarder.

Please let me know if you can help us! Thank you!

Eric Potratz

Cell - 541-510-9399

eric @ onemanworld.com

[PALM MOD]

I know - this should normally be moved to the "Wanted" section - but because of the uniqueness, timeline, and monetary value of the offer, I will leave it here.

[virtualpalm]

Eric, I will check my palm when I get home from work today. It usually has several infructescences at any given time. The trick will be reaching them.

[epotratz]

  On 6/3/2013 at 12:17 PM, virtualpalm said:

Eric, I will check my palm when I get home from work today. It usually has several infructescences at any given time. The trick will be reaching them.

Sounds great!

We are looking to get a fruit cluster that is as fresh as possible. From my understanding they start going rancid pretty quick.

[epotratz]

FYI, we are trying to get a fruit cluster in their ripest stage. See ( B ) in the photo below.

-Eric

[virtualpalm]

Eric, I checked my palm last night and, while I did see 3 mature fruit clusters (at the limit of my 20-foot ladder), they have all been nibbled/chewed on by squirrels, so they are not in perfect condition. I know of a few smaller mature palms in a field nursery, though, so I will try to get by there this week to have a look.

[epotratz]

  On 6/4/2013 at 12:05 PM, virtualpalm said:

Eric, I checked my palm last night and, while I did see 3 mature fruit clusters (at the limit of my 20-foot ladder), they have all been nibbled/chewed on by squirrels, so they are not in perfect condition. I know of a few smaller mature palms in a field nursery, though, so I will try to get by there this week to have a look.

VP,

Thanks very much for checking.

Less than perfect might be our only option. Can you take a snap shot of whats available?

[epotratz]

If anybody else has any leads on a palm cluster please let me know. Thanks everyone.

[epotratz]

  On 6/4/2013 at 12:05 PM, virtualpalm said:

Eric, I checked my palm last night and, while I did see 3 mature fruit clusters (at the limit of my 20-foot ladder), they have all been nibbled/chewed on by squirrels, so they are not in perfect condition. I know of a few smaller mature palms in a field nursery, though, so I will try to get by there this week to have a look.

Virtualpalm,

So far I havent had any luck finding a palm cluster.

I assume yours resemble the general shape of a palm cluster and still contain some fruitlets? If so, I'd be glad to take your palm clusters if you can get then down from the tree!

[Walter John]

I don't agree with this, promoting palm fruit, I don't care about the right way to go about it, there's just too many wrong ways on the planet where they have been grown that suffocate the right ways, too many damaged forests, way too many. I say bury this thread. No disrepect to the owner or PM.

[epotratz]

  On 6/15/2013 at 2:04 AM, _Wal said:

I don't agree with this, promoting palm fruit, I don't care about the right way to go about it, there's just too many wrong ways on the planet where they have been grown that suffocate the right ways, too many damaged forests, way too many. I say bury this thread. No disrepect to the owner or PM.

No disrespect taken. This is a serious topic.

I think its easy to point the finger at the buyers/sellers of palm oil because its hard to see the big picture -- and the implications of what devastation it would cause if everybody actually stopped using palm oil. There are a lot of people on this world to feed, and palm fruit happens to be one of the highest oil yielding crops in the world. Palm oil has already surpassed soybean oil as the most popular vegetable oil in the world. If we stopped consuming palm oil it would just be replaced by another oil that would likely just increase the rate of deforestation by being less efficient per hectare. I believe deforestation is truly a side-effect of overpopulation.

Deforestation is not an easy problem to solve, and to make a positive impact we really need to be more strategic in our approach. Regarding our palm fruit product, it is not sourced from newly cleared forest lands such as Indonesia or Borneo. It is only sourced from members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and from growers who follow sustainable plantation practices in existing cropland of Peninsular Malaysia (20+ year old crops). Plus, we are GreenPalm Certified supporter of sustainable palm oil production, and donates 1% of all revenue to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia. It may only have a small impact now, but when we eventually start to gain momentum we can apply more pressure to malaysian producers to invest in more sustainable technologies with the goal of capturing higher yields on the land that’s already been cleared.