Re: The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture

Sal Schettino (sals@rain.org)
Mon, 4 Oct 1999 17:15:08 -0700 (PDT)

I think the reason is if you have a small farm and make $5 a box and on
every box you make 5.00 and you are a big farm and you sell 1000,000 boxes
and a small farm sell only 100 boxes. and if prices drop so you only make
a dime a box and big farm sells 1000,000 boxes and you sell 100 . anyway
I think the big farm can easy drive the price down where if you only
have a few you don't pay your farm loans.. also a big farm can put up the big money for a full
crew picking and packing stuff etc. plus the Gov. helps the big guys
out . they have a get big or get out way of thinking..Just a thought

On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Russ Bulluck
wrote:

>
>
> Edna M Weigel wrote:
>
> > snip...
> > "In fact small farms are 'multi-functional' -- more productive, more
> > efficient, and contribute more to economic development than do large
> > farms,"
> > ...snip...
> > "small farmers not only still cling to the soil but continue
> > to be more productive and more efficient than large, agri-business
> > farming operations.
> > ...snip...
> > "Free trade causes the prices
> > farmers receive to drop through the floor", said Rosset," driving them
> > into bankruptcy by the millions." Such low prices mean only the largest
> > can survive, according to the study.
> > ...snip
> > What did I miss here? If small farms are more efficient, then
> > why does a drop in prices cause the small ones to go bankrupt while the
> > largest survive?
> > This reminds me of the paradox that "organic" food supposedly
> > costs less to produce yet costs more in the store. The only plausible
> > explanation I've heard is the cost of certification, but this won't apply
> > to the above discussion about small farms being more efficient but going
> > bankrupt before the largest ones when prices drop.
> > Regards, Edna
>
> Can't say about the small farm/large farm issue, but I think the organic food
> issue has to do with supply and demand. It does near in Raleigh, NC, anyway.
> . . Organic produce (at specialty stores, e.g. Whole Foods/WellSpring) flies
> off the shelf, even when marketed side-by-side with conventionally grown
> produce at 33% lower prices! I also understand there is some storage loss and
> loss due to "bad-looking" ftuits and veggies.
> --
> Russ Bulluck
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Department of Plant Pathology
> North Carolina State University
> PO Box 7616
> Raleigh, NC 27695-7616
>
> http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/Personnel/Students/webpage.htm
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> The soil population is so complex that it manifestly cannot
> be dealt with as a whole with any detail by any one person,
> and at the same time it plays so important a part in the soil
> economy that it must be studied.
> --Sir E. John Russell
> The Micro-organisms of the Soil, 1923
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
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Sal Schettino,Organic Farmer,don't panic eat organic,sals@rain.org
or check out my homepage: http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html .

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