RE: Farmland vs "natural land"

E. Ann Clark, Associate Professor (ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca)
Mon, 14 Aug 1995 23:33:43 EDT

Dave F. and others: interesting dialogue. One comment on
"legislation" for sustainability. Might be helpful to recall earlier
discussions (last year on SANET) on the powerful influence that
legislation and policy have had on promoting "bigness", capital
intensiveness, and specialization in what some have called
"conventional" agriculture today. One good example was the effect
that "subsidized" transportation routes have had on the economic
rationality of regional specialization and long-distance movement of
perishable commodities.

So, it could be argued that legislation/policy to support sustainable
agriculture is just "turnabout is fair play". Alternatively, if the
legislation/policies that have so efficiently favored large, resource-
intensive agriculture were rethought and perhaps redrafted or just
dropped altogether (?), allowing greater latitude to producer-
decision makers, then the impetus/necessity for policies explicitly
favoring sustainable agriculture might be diminished.

Key point: Although it may not be obvious from the rhetoric, the
dogma that large-scale, capital-intensive production agriculture
is "efficient", cost-competitive, and societally desirable, while
smaller scale, ecologically sound, family farming isn't, does *not*
reflect free market forces acting freely. Rather, it reflects a
decision-making mileau which has been intentionally crafted. What
has been built can be unbuilt, or rebuilt. Ann

ACLARK@crop.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