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  • From: "Jill Taylor Bussiere" <jdt AT itol.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Overseas Volunteer Opportunities
  • Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 06:01:49 -0500


Chris,
I don't like the "Agribusiness Volunteer Program" either. The record of
AID has been for "agribusiness professionals ......to share their know-how"
to result in dependency on agribusiness products, increased agricultural
exports replacing foods that used to be grown for the people in the region,
and thus decreased ability of a country to feed itself. AID is well known
for its goals of selling its agribusiness products - seeds, petrochemical
fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Besides the resulting dependency
and increased hunger, there are other problems - contamination of local
waterways, contamination of the land, and ill health effects on those
working in the imported methods from the US.

I am sure the volunteers that sign up with this program have the best of
intentions, and good hearts, but they have no clue about the real agenda of
such programs, and have a mistaken idea about the worth of their own
knowledge, and its application in entirely different climates, cultures, and
political situations.

The result of such AID programs is not help to small farmers overseas,
but rather their demise, to the benefit of large agribusiness. Small
farmers here and small farmers overseas have a lot in common, and would do
well to join in solidarity against the large agribusiness who seeks their
demise.

Jill

Subject: [market-farming] Re: Overseas Volunteer Opportunities


> > We this certainly burns me up. I am a member of a co-op that is
struggling
> > to survive in a very competitive marketplace serving our state with
fresh
> > local grown produce. We compete directly with Alberts and Global for our
> > customers. We have also tried to get some help from the government and
> > agricultural beaurocrats to upgrade our software with no results. They
all
> > say they want to help but nothing ever happens. I have only managed to
sell
> > about half of what I grow in the past three years. We sell wholesale as
I
> > mentioned and work three tailgate markets a week and run a CSA. An
extreme
> > amount of work I might add. To find that we are actually helping others
who
> > don't even live in this country to market their stuff burns me up. This
is
> > just one more way the US fails to help the small local farmer. It seems
if
> > one is not farming at least 500 acres the US gov has no interest or
program
> > to help. I hosted a group from the Ukraine two years ago that came here
to
> > see how we do it. They were representative of huge farms encompassing
> > thousands of acres. The small parcels that citizens 'got' have been
pooled
> > into huge corporation farms. Those folks could help us, not us them. I
> > think they are looking at marketing here, not in their own countries.
> > Perhaps it is time to kiss the small family farm goodbye. We seem to be
> > pushed further and further into the tailgate venue, which at best in our
> > area can only supply a few hundred dollars a week income.
>
> Chris
> www.jakesfarm.com
>
>
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