vision2020
Re: corporate farming consequences
Interesting thinking but a bit flawed, I believe. Using one word for
agriculture is a little like using one word for transportation. There is
as big a difference between small scale farms and corporate agribusiness as
there is between bicyclists and the auto industry.
Very simply, small-scale family farmers have traditionally had an
investment in their land and in their communities which made them, by and
large, good stewards of the land. Large, vertically integrated,
multi-national corporations have quietly been taking over farming for quite
some time creating horrendous environmental and social problems throughout
the world. Unfortunately, these giant corporations are treated under our
agricultural programs in the same way as the family farmer so the
advantages that go to one, flow to the other and the prohibitions that
address one, address the other. You might guess which has greater
political power. The consequence is that when issues that come up that may
harm the big guys they push the family farmer to the front to say "you're
putting me out of business." This pits family farms against
environmentalist while the big guys continue to buy up more land and more
pieces of the food system. When issues which threaten to differentiate the
big guys from the small farmer come up all is quiet in the media and lot's
of money flows in Washington DC.
Farming on a corporate scale, when the same company owns the land, hires a
manager, supplies all the inputs, buys the farm product, processes and
packages it, owns the distribution channels, and has agreements with retail
outlets for shelf space is very cheap and very profitable. With profits so
high even very large fines for environmental impact can easily be absorbed.
Farming on this scale also makes corporations immune from market pressures.
What they may lose in one area is more than made up by tax breaks or
profits in another area. So far they have been immune from environmental
action because there is so little public awareness of the issues. I
believe most people are unaware that only a very few companies supply
nearly everything they buy at the grocery store and eat at a restaurant.
Yes, non-point source pollution is considerable from farms around here.
The reasons that farmers haven't changed their methods is complex.
Nevertheless they are changing, slowly, to more environmentally sound
practices. The most current problem with agriculture and the environment
and becoming increasingly become more important, is the proliferation of
confined feeding operations and concentrated feedlots. The social and
environmental impacts of these may be greater than anything we've seen in
Idaho yet.
Peggy
Peggy Adams
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Peggy Adams, Watersheds/Food Systems: adams@pcei.org
Jon Barrett, Idaho Smart Growth: smartgro@micron.net
Elaine Clegg, Idaho Smart Growth: eclegg@micron.net
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Kimi Lucas, Office Manager: lucas@pcei.org
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