Word: midi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...their marketing traditions even for Prisunic. Most Prisunic shoppers still insist on scrutinizing their meat without any of that cellophane around it, having their choice from an impressive selection of France's 300 varieties of cheese, and buying their Prisunic vin rouge (usually from Algeria or the Midi) right out of the spigot (25? a bottle). And, efficiency or not, many Prisunic stores close down promptly at 12:15 for the usual two-hour lunch...
Lamour's first task was to win the support of his fellow farmers in the lower Rhone Valley. He sparked the formation of a partly private, partly government development corporation and sent its agents into Midi homes to argue for an irrigation system that would wipe out the area's dependence on grapes alone. Lamour's advice to his agents: "Never refuse a glass of wine. Try to get on 'tu' and 'toi' terms with everyone...
...acres of vines and turn to cultivating unfamiliar crops. But Lamour had two persuasive arguments. His diversified Farm of the Partridge was conspicuously profitable. And at Lamour's urging, the government (which is trying to reduce wine production) offered to pay $363 an acre to every Midi farmer who plowed under his grapevines...
Since 1957, Lamour's tu-and-toi technique has produced impressive results. A dam on the Orb River is complete, another is under way on a tributary of the Herault River, and 42 miles of canal are finished. Ultimately, at a cost of $300 million, the Midi will be irrigated. Last year 40,000 tons of Midi apples and peaches reached Paris, and by 1965, annual shipments are expected to top 100,000 tons. Another dividend of Lamour's investment: the U.S.'s Libby, McNeill & Libby is surveying sites for a food processing plant in the south...
Lamour himself now spends much of his time lecturing away from home or escorting distinguished visitors over dams and through fields and orchards. Nikita Khrushchev, after such a visit, paid the Midi man a cherished compliment. "The man who astonished me the most in all France," said he, "was Philippe Lamour. He's the only Frenchman who could stand...