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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture
  • Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 18:42:40 -0700


Food First Policy Brief No.4: The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small
Farm Agriculture
In the Context of Global Trade Negotiations
By Peter M. Rosset, Ph.D.
September 1999
Peter M. Rosset, Ph.D.
Executive Director Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy
Oakland, CA USA

entire article at
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/policybs/pb4.html#productivity
September 1999

This Policy Brief was prepared for "Cultivating Our Futures," the
FAO/Netherlands Conference on the Multifunctional Character of Agriculture
and Land, 12-17 September 1999, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Co-published by: Transnational Institute
Paulus Potterstraat 20 1071 DA, Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel:
31-20-6626608 Fax: 31-20-6757176 Email: tni@tni.org Website:
http://www.worldcom.nl/tni

Contents

Summary
Introduction
Small Farm Productivity
Small Farms in Economic Development
Ecosystem Services and Sustainability
Conclusion: Free Trade Threatens Small Farm Agriculture
Bibliography

Summary

In this Policy Brief I challenge the conventional wisdom that small farms
are backward and unproductive. Using evidence from Southern and Northern
countries I demonstrate that small farms are "multi-functional" —more
productive, more efficient, and contribute more to economic development
than large farms. Small farmers can also make better stewards of natural
resources, conserving biodiversity and safe-guarding the future
sustainability of agricultural production.

The on-going process of trade liberalization —now being taken a step
further in the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations for the
Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) —has already had dramatically negative
effects on small farmers everywhere. The AoA has the potential to severely
undercut the remaining viability of small farm production, with potentially
devastating consequences for rural economies and environments worldwide. I
conclude with a call to recognize the true multi-functional role and value
of small farmers, and to unite in opposition to an AoA that might make
their continued existence impossible.







  • [Livingontheland] Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture, TradingPostPaul, 12/29/2006

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