Steve,
>Anyone who is sustainable has to be economically viable. Right? Do organic
>farmers not need to make money to survive? The ecological part of
There are farms which are moving towards ecological sustainability
(which is what I perceive to be the pinnacle/ideal of organic farming)
but they are not economically viable (and therefore outside your
sustainability circle) for at least three reasons:
- The damage to the ecology has been so serious that to repair
it, some form of subsidy is needed until the balance is restored; at
that point the system can also become economically viable without
subsidy. In fact, the current system today is *subsidizing*
ecologically unsustainable fossil-based systems, making them appear
economically viable.
- The present system (laws, bureaucracy, inspectors) is greatly
biased against ecologically sustainable practices in favor of
fossil-based (chemical/mechanical) systems, making it doubly difficult
for ecological farms to be economically viable (listen to Sal!)
- Economic viability can be fudged, manipulated, misrepresented,
faked through hidden subsidies, etc. because it uses money as measure
rather than other measuring sticks which are more difficult to cheat
(like energy - this is why the full-cost energy accounting is
important).
Because of the market system, making "economic viability" as the
priority goal (pinnacle of sustainability, if you like) actually
*selects for* ecologically unsustainable systems which can hide (ie,
externalize) their ecological costs.
Because of these factors, it is true that some organic farms may fall
outside your circle of sustainability (ie, economic viability +
environmentally-friendly). But then, the government should step in to
provide subsidy until ecological balance is restored. After all,
governments today are throwing good money into all kinds of subsidies
for huge corporations running ecologically unsustainable megafarms.
Roberto Verzola
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