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I agree nostalgia can cloud judgement but there has been a fundamental shift in the nature of farming in the last few decades. Btw, this is a perspective from
by derriz 6y ago
I agree nostalgia can cloud judgement but there has been a fundamental shift in the nature of farming in the last few decades.
Btw, this is a perspective from Europe - the same thing has happened with family farming here. While I didn't grow up on one, I spent a lot of time on my grandparent's farm.
Farming has never been easy but the amount of capital required (represented by land, livestock and machinery) to run an economically viable farm has increased enormously increasing the risk. By viable I mean profitable enough to provide an average family with a median income.
My grandparents raised 4 kids, putting 3 of them through 3rd level education and never really wanted for much purely on income from a 90 acre farm. All their neighbours and the entire landscape was covered with family farms of this size plus or minus. What's left now are some old bachelors barely surviving or part-timers (who generally inherited the land) with "real" jobs who keep some dry stock or rent out their land to big producers.
It's sad to see a way of life disappear but I don't see any alternative. From an economic perspective, it can only be supported by transferring income from others to small farmers. This is effectively what happened in the past through higher prices paid for agricultural produce. As a share of disposable income, spending on food is a fraction (well under 10% in the west) of what it was in the past - which hurt the poor disproportionally.
- duxup 6y agoYeah I'm fairly skeptical about trying to turn the tide of efficiencies and market forces in this case. It really seems to just be shuffling deck chairs and with some bad consequences.
- ip26 6y agoThis seems fairly inextricably tied to a heavy reliance on cereal crops & soy. If fruits & vegetables were a higher portion of our collective diet, more small farmers could be supported (produce being less mechanized) and while food spending would increase, our collective health might improve at the same time.
- duxup 6y agoI think hanging your hat on 'well produce will just make more' if the market shifts towards that is a bit fragile. Generally farmers have been really good at increasing output across the board... often driving prices way down. Probably a good idea diet wise, but generally not a tried I'd expect would save many farms for long. We've seen increases in other types of farming boom and bust time and again after flooding the market with product.
- nradov 6y agoIt's not really possible to produce enough calories for the population by focusing on fruits and vegetables. Only cereal and starch crops can do that. This has been true ever since humans stopped being hunter-gatherers and it won't change in our lifetimes. Also even produce farming is increasingly automated. For example there are already working prototypes of strawberry picking robots; within 10 years those will be in widespread use on large farms.
- ip26 6y agoA meager 9% of the US population hits the recommended 2-3 cups of vegetables a day. I'm not talking about doing away with grains. It's true produce is increasingly automated. The viable scale still seems much smaller though.