Re: economic sustainability

Greg & Lei Gunthorp (hey4hogs@kuntrynet.com)
Mon, 29 Mar 1999 08:25:50 -0500

I don't know who I am arguing with here, but if Sustainable/organic farming
cannot find a way to compete economically in the current system then the
whole effort is futile. I'm not saying it can't justify premiums long
term. But it has to support families with a decent standard of living and
quality of life or no one is going to do it long term. Or should I say, at
least enough are not going to do it to have an impact on the ecosystem. We
have to develop sustainable agriculture systems that support families.
Most of us can not put our philosophical differences ahead of supporting
our families. And it is obvious that we have to support families and make
a profit if we want the rest of agriculture to take us serious.

Is sustainable and organic agriculture doing its job of creating better
economic opportunities? (I've got an answer for that but I'll wait till
others answer first.)
Best wishes,
Greg
Gunthorp's Pasture-ized Pork
LaGrange, Indiana
visit our farm at www.grassfarmer.com

----------
> From: Dan Hook <guldann@ix.netcom.com>
> To: Roberto Verzola <rverzola@phil.gn.apc.org>; Craig.Harris@ssc.msu.edu;
sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu
> Subject: Re: economic sustainability
> Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 7:29 AM
>
>
> >Yikes, I suppose all this is true but our goal is enough money to quit
the
> day jobs, be able to afford health insurance, support the household,
support
> the farm seeds critters etc, be able to PRESERVE our land, than be able
to
> put a little profit away for a rainy day or retirement. Beth
>
> >Under a market-oriented (rather than subsistence-oriented) approach,
> >only the marketable (ie, encashable) outputs of a total ecological
> >system are valued. An organic farm is so much more diverse and
> >therefore productive, ecologically speaking, than a single-crop
> >chemicalized farm. However, the latter might produce more of that
> >single crop than the former and thus appear more "economically
> >productive".
> >
> >Furthermore, under conditions of competition (instead of cooperation),
> >a farm ran "more like a business" would be tend to externalize more
> >and more of its costs to remain competitive. The costs would still be
> >there, they would just not be paid for by those who created them. They
> >would instead be passed on to other social sectors with little voice
> >in decision-making, to the environment, or to future generations.
> >Because they are so economically and politically powerful, the big
> >corporations can externalize their costs more easily and thus appear
> >"more economically viable."
> >
> >By their very mindsets, organic farmers consciously avoid
> >externalizing costs; also precisely by their very mindsets,
> >businessmen and CEOs would externalize their costs whenever possible
> >to improve their competitiveness.
> >
> >Under a context of a competitive market system therefore, the stacks
> >are heavily loaded against the organic/ecological farmer, who will
> >tend to appear more economically inefficient and unsustainable than
> >the chemical/industrial farmer.
> >
> >Roberto Verzola
> >
> >
> >
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