1. the "one farmer feeds...." stuff has stuck in my craw (sp?) for a
while now. I recall a quote from a govn't taskforce that went
something like this - the fact that an individual farmer now feeds
120 of his fellows (N.B. number and gender irrelevant) but has to
take an off-farm job to feed his family is a sad commentary on the
state of agriculture today.
This was in Canada, and part of the context of the study dealt with
subsidies/incentives and the degree to which farmer livelihood is
directly out of the public purse. While declining, particularly in
the US, the numbers are still in the range of 20-40% (of farm income
that comes from government, in one form or another) for the US and
Canadian farmers - generally 40-80% for European farmers.
But the essence of my amazement - then and now - is that our food
production system has become so very dependent upon Averyesque inputs
and so very distorted by government interventions that it demands
extensive subsidies *not* just from the public purse (above) but from
individual farm families as well - just to stay in business. Farmers
are subsidizing agriculture - with off-farm employment by one or both
spouses - every bit as much as society. Part-time farming is the
norm in both the US and Canada, much though it is despised and
derided by some commentators - there just isn't enough money left in
resource-intensive farming to raise a family.
Now, what kind of inanity have we evolved here?! At present,
Canadian farmers retain less than 10% of farmgate receipts as net
profits - compared with about 50% 50 years ago. The 90% goes
primarily to buy purchased inputs, to pay interest on loans, and
depreciation on equipment. And keep in mind, that we haven't yet
gotten to the marketing/retailing end - this is just farmgate
receipts.
Yes, we can get higher and higher yields - but how and why? Higher
yields depend largely on purchased inputs, and resource-responsive
genetics - all of which costs money, both directly and to deal with
the ecological resistance which resource-intensive approaches
engender, requiring yet more purchased inputs. Why increase yields
when demand for food is inelastic, and the increased supply just
means lower prices - putting farmers back where they started,
economically. And most disturbingly, it is this kind of economic,
ecological, and spiritual dead-ending that is lauded so boisterously
as *progress*. Uh uh - not by this author.
2. Avery's industry-comforting simplifications are generally founded
upon hopelessly ill-considered assessments of the potential of
organic farming - as you pointed out. To this, I would add - with
tongue just slightly in cheek - that it is a darn good thing that
organic yields are generally lower than conventional.
I mean, just think about it. What would it mean if a few organic
farmers, working largely as isolated individuals in a complete vacuum
of research and extension support, could achieve yields comparable to
those of conventional neighbors whose productivity was the direct
beneficiary of thousands of person-years and billions of dollars of
research effort? Like, uh, what have we in ag research been *doing*
all these years with all that money?
Avery's approach to yield comparisons is like sitting down 6 and 12
year old students and asking them to solve trig problems - then
pointing triumphantly when the 12 year olds do better. If yield is
indeed the parameter of choice for comparisons - and I'm not sure it
is - then an objective analysis would compare apples with apples, not
apples and kiwi fruit. Ann
ACLARK@plant.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933
http://www.oac.uoguelph.ca/www/CRSC/faculty/eac.htm
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