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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] how mainstream agribusiness marginalizes small farms
  • Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:00:30 -0700


Mainstream agribusiness, like any other industry, does not marginalize
threatening movements by frontal assault. Good public relations can do
better by co-opting movements. To be effective, they must appear
sympathetic, even a part of organic or no-till movements, but still leave
the impression that these movements are impractical. That sends the
intended message to colleagues and agriculture students.

Here's a classic example of how mainstream agribusiness marginalizes small
farm sustainable food production. It's done by framing the debate, a useful
propaganda tool. Some of it sounds like cutting edge organic. They sound
sympathetic about the "threat of rural decline", and even acknowledge that
subsidies mainly benefit the biggest farms at the expense of the smallest.
They admit the benefits of greater soil organic matter levels.

Then they go into "the 'limitations' of the organic farming system". "Most
studies cited emphatically establish that organic farms are economically
viable operations with lower input costs and high price premiums that
outweigh its relatively lower yields (compared to conventional farms)." And
"Duram's accounts of the grueling initial years for transitioning farms and
the gradual improvements in management efficiency provide the proper
context in understanding these negative results."

"relatively lower yields"? Grueling initial years for transitioning farms?"

>From there they go into direct marketing strategies, and hope for
government funding to further organic research. The writer is concerned
that "High price premiums, increasing net returns and an expanding consumer
base will inevitably entice small organic producers to continually expand
production acreage and shift to the conventional agricultural distribution
system. But Duram acknowledges toward the end of the book that bigger
organic farms actually have a place in organic agriculture as long as they
enhance opportunities for more transitions to organic farming. She
clarifies a possible coexistence and complementation of small and mid-sized
family organic farms where the former cater to local and regional markets
while the latter sell beyond such markets to cover national and even global
markets. "

And of course, they leave the organic door open to giant agribusiness and
globalization. They'll have no complaint about that book.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
------------------------------------------

Book Review: Why Organic Farming Works
8/1/2006
American Journal of Agricultural Economics
By Cesar L. Escalante
http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/303/2/
Author Leslie A. Duram

Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2005, 250 pp.

The book provides a comprehensive discussion of the organic farming
paradigm through reviews of previous empirical research and first-hand
information obtained from interviews with owners of six geographically
diverse organic farms. The book equally devotes its six chapters to these
two information sources. The first three chapters discuss the results and
implications of past research, mostly subscribing to the quantitative
approach of empirical investigation. The second half of the book adopts a
qualitative, case study method that provides a more holistic view of
organic farming and reinforces the claims made in the empirical studies
presented earlier in the book.

The first chapter aptly provides an overview of the whole organic farming
movement that immediately establishes the merits of organic farming systems
vis-a-vis conventional agribusinesses and justifies the trends of
increasing consumer demand and, albeit modest, conversions or transitions
from conventional agriculture. In this chapter, the reader easily gets a
clear, complete snapshot of the major issues usually raised in comparative
analyses of organic and conventional farming systems.

Leslie Duram carefully organizes facts and opinions to formulate arguments
that establish the impending threat of rural decline given the current
state of U.S. agriculture that is dominated by conventional farming
systems. Industrial agriculture subscribes to the "mega farm" consolidation
mentality as means of business survival. This trend is attributed to the
proliferation of more sophisticated, highly-priced production technologies
that guarantee farmers high yields and low costs. Government subsidy
programs, which mostly assist conventional farms, only alleviate the
problem since "the more (farmers) grow, the higher the subsidy (they
receive)" (p. 13). In this conventional farming setup, smaller family farms
could barely break-even and are eventually forced out of business. Duram
cites Krebs' explanation of "rural bloodletting" and "efficiency and
ruthlessness" to support her point: " ... the demise of rural America is
not the up-shot of free market capitalism but the result of agribusiness
price fixing and deliberate anticompetitive strategies" (p. 14).

Chapters 2 and 3 discuss in greater detail the scientific, economic and
social dimensions of organic farming. Instead of using chemical enhancers
to the soil, organic farmers employ crop rotation techniques to build up
their soil and continually improve soil quality for future generations. As
a result, organically farmed soils have greater soil organic matter
content, the earthworm activity, and mineralization. Their soils can also
withstand natural calamities such as flooding and drought owing to their
high infiltration rates and water-holding capacity.

In Chapter 2, Duram provides a balanced discussion of empirical works that
both strongly advocate and expose the limitations of the organic farming
system. For instance, economic viability assessment studies produce mixed
results. Most studies cited emphatically establish that organic farms are
economically viable operations with lower input costs and high price
premiums that outweigh its relatively lower yields (compared to
conventional farms). A few others claim that even when price premiums are
factored in and family labor costs are included in cost calculations, net
returns on organic farms could be lower than those realized by conventional
farms. Duram's accounts of the grueling initial years for transitioning
farms and the gradual improvements in management efficiency provide the
proper context in understanding these negative results. The chances for
small farm survival, however, are greater in the organic farming mode as
these farms have been proven to succeed "even with relatively fewer acres
than is necessary in the high yield mentality of conventional farms" (p.
45).

In Chapter 3, Duram emphasizes the minimization of "food miles" as a
survival strategy for smaller organic family farms and the preservation of
rural communities. The chapter outlines two marketing alternatives that
support this cause: farmers' markets that provide direct marketing and
community relationship building opportunities, and the Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) option that is both a revenue generating and risk
reducing strategy for the farmers.

Five case studies of organic farmers, with diverse farming operations and
representing different farming regions in the county, are introduced in
Chapter 4. The rationale for the case study approach has been established
in earlier chapters. Organic farming research requires a holistic approach
for two reasons: decisions in different functional areas of farm operations
are interrelated; and more longitudinal histories of farming operational
decisions and practices are necessary in order to generate insights and
information that are far richer and more reliable than generalizations
obtained from one- to two-year-old small university research plots. As in
any business and entrepreneurial situation, no two organic farms can be
truly identical as uniqueness of each farming situation is enhanced by
variations in operating barriers, farm operators' personalities and coping
strategies. The case study approach, while criticized for its lack of rigor
and statistical base, aptly fits the holistic research mold. It sheds light
on farmers' exploratory problem-solving techniques, discover
insights/relationships that are not usually suggested by theory, and make
important clarifications that even common challenging business barriers are
rarely solved by one right decision, or by implementing just one optimal,
predetermined plan of action.

The case studies in Chapter 4 depict the farmers' motivations, goals,
convictions, opinions, and experiences of trials and successes in their
organic farming businesses, mostly using direct quotes from the farmers.
This is followed in Chapter 5 by a thematic summary of the recurring
factors, concepts and issues in the farmers' individual accounts with
economic, ecological, social (and policy), and personal implications that
are considered as attributes of successful organic farmers. These two
chapters clarify an important point: successful farmers seem to possess a
common set of traits and operating strategies but these are acquired or
learned in many varied ways, and hence, are not necessarily implemented in
exactly the same fashion across all these farms.

Chapter 6 recalls the important issues discussed in the literature review
chapters and in the case studies to formulate policy suggestions and plans
of action that will sustain the organic farming alternative. Duram outlines
policy reforms that rest on the willingness of the government to abandon
its lukewarm attitude toward organic farms. Among others, she hopes for
even "just a moderate increase in funding for organic research ... (that
is) truly relevant to organic farmers" (p. 190). This would surely reap a
lot of benefits for organic farmers that still have to resort to conducting
their own on-farm experiments given the "horrendously low levels of
funding" (p. 189) that organic farm research receives from the government.
It's also about time for the government to provide subsidies and other
forms of incentives to the organic farming sector, which should especially
be directed toward farms hurdling through the difficult years of converting
to organic methods. Reforms in the organic certification process should
consider a higher annual sales cutoff margin in the "small farm clause" and
an expansion of purely production-based standard of certification to
include more comprehensive ecological standards.

There is a slight twist in Duram's advocacy of small family organic
farming, which was quite evident in the earlier chapters. Her views and
convictions are acceptable: organic farming allows small family farms to
operate financially and environmentally sustainable businesses that save
rural communities and the environment from decimation. The dangers of the
industry being transformed into what she calls the "Big O Ag," however, are
real. High price premiums, increasing net returns and an expanding consumer
base will inevitably entice small organic producers to continually expand
production acreage and shift to the conventional agricultural distribution
system. But Duram acknowledges toward the end of the book that bigger
organic farms actually have a place in organic agriculture as long as they
enhance opportunities for more transitions to organic farming. She
clarifies a possible coexistence and complementation of small and mid-sized
family organic farms where the former cater to local and regional markets
while the latter sell beyond such markets to cover national and even global
markets. This is fine as long as the "Big O Ag" firms continue to strictly
adhere to the organic farming ideals of ecological balance and
environmental preservation which ensures that "we are not spewing as much
as many agrichemicals into our environment and perhaps our waterways will
be just that much cleaner" (p. 83), and never yielding to the lure of
sacrificing product quality in exchange for larger market shares and higher
profits. In the face of these risks, Duram issues a challenge to consumers
to take responsibility by patronizing certified organic products at local
markets and supporting family organic farms. This consumer vigilance seems
to be quite attainable realistically at this point when, as empirical
evidence suggests, consumers and producers of organic products tend to
share the same beliefs and ideals. But, as markets eventually become
larger, price premiums start to diminish, and organic products become more
accessible to all other segments of consumers, one wonders if such
compatibility of preferences and ideas between producers and consumers will
be maintained. I hope so.

Cesar L. Escalante
University of Georgia






  • [Livingontheland] how mainstream agribusiness marginalizes small farms, TradingPostPaul, 02/11/2007

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