>Bert Hall wrote:
>>Sod crops reverse and heal that trend, but too few farmers (organic or
>>>conventional) have any significant area in these soil builders.
>
>>The usual reason is financial. The rub, of course, is that an
>>unprofitable >farm (almost by definition) isn't sustainable.
>
>Connie Falk wrote:
>>Are you saying that sustainable farms are not financially feasible?
>
>I have been doing substantial research on this problem. I am finding that
>the economic imperatives (as defined by our current economic system) of
>agriculture tend to contradict the ecological or biophysical imperatives of
>sustainable agriculture.
>
>Before giving examples, I wish to point out that the evidence of my work
>suggests that our current economic system promotes behaviour that is
>ecologically unsustainable. If you accept the premise that ecological
>sustainability, (i.e. maintaining life-support systems: maintaining the
>ecological basis of our existence; living within the carrying capacity of
>our planet) is a prerequisite for the existence of society or economy, then
>the implication is that our social and economic systems must adapt to
>ecological reality and the biophysical constraints of ecological
>sustainability. Only in that context is a truly sustainable agriculture
>possible.
>
>Examples:
>Competition and the need to survive economically pushes farmers onto an
>intensification of production/productivity treadmill and a chemical
>treadmill.
>
>Minimising costs is an imperative. Sustaining the resource base and
>surrounding ecosystems is a cost. If you pay this cost you cannot compete
>unless everyone pays it. If government forces everyone to pay, you cannot
>compete in the GATT/WTO environment.
>
>Discounting makes it economically irrational to invest now in
>sustainability measures where the benefits tend to accrue slowly over time
>and well into the future. Economic rationality is not ecologically
>rational!
>
>Agricultural economists define a viable farm as one that can grow its
>assets faster than the rate of inflation. This means that the farms assets
>must grow exponentially as they must grow over time at the inflation
>percentage. Farm debt has the same effect. Since the resource base of the
>farm is fixed at best and in the majority of cases degrades over time under
>the pressures of competitive industrial agriculture, attempts to grow the
>assets at an exponential rate can only be achieved at the expense of
>liquidating the resource base - which is what we have done and is why most
>agriculture is unsustainable in the long run.
>
>The exception to these examples is where farmers can carefully husband and
>sustain the resource base and be profitable through meeting a niche market
>where supernormal profits can be achieved. Cut flowers, herbs, medicinal
>plants, organic produce are some examples. However, as more players enter
>a given niche, competition emerges, this cuts the supernormal profits, and
>competitive treadmills and cost cutting come into play and we are back to
>where we started.
>
>The implication is that the survival imperative is to redesign our
>societies in ways that make our social, economic, and technical systems,
>ecologically rational. This means giving ecological imperatives priority
>over economic imperatives.
>
>I would welcome support and criticism of these findings.
>
>Yours for a sustainable future,
>
>Richard Sanders
>Ecological Economist
>Environmental Sciences
>Griffith University
>Nathan QLD 4111
>AUSTRALIA
>Tel: 617 3875 7683
>Fax: 617 3875 7459
>Email: R.Sanders@ens.gu.edu.au
>
>
===============================================
Richard's analysis is interesting, but probably more correct than most of us
would be willing to admit. Niche markets are important to a great many of
our sustainable practitioners, but as the niche fills with more people, the
margin narrows and the advantage toward profitability is lost.
It is probably correct that until society (or at least a big chunk of it)
values sustainability and is willing to pay the real price for it, we are in
trouble.
>Chuck Schwartau
Extension Educator
Minnesota Extension Service
611 Broadway Ave Suite 40
Wabasha, MN 55981-1613
phone 612-565-2662
fax 612-565-2664
cschwartau@mes.umn.edu