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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] current trends in agriculture
  • Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:48:46 -0700


current trends in agriculture
from http://www.communitymarkets.biz/questions.php

-“Get Big or Get Out”. Earl Butz, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture during
the 1970’s

Profits and concentration of power has shifted to fewer and larger
industrial farms where, 8% of the farm population accounts for 72% of the
sales. That same 8% receives the most money in federal agriculture
subsidies. World Watch Report, Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a
Global Market. Brian Halweil. 2002

- 50,000 farming operations now account for 75 percent of the US Food
production. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Edited by
Andrew Kimbrell. 5 companies control 75 percent of the global vegetable
seed market.

- 5 companies control 65 percent of the global pesticide market. World
Watch Report, Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market. Brian
Halweil. 2002

- American farmers, on average, receive only about 20 cents of each food
dollar spent. The remainder goes toward the expenses of processing, packing
and distribution. Farmers who sell food direct to local customers, on the
other hand, receive the full value for their product cutting out the costs
to middlemen. Eating Local: A Matter of Integrity. John Ikerd

- Between 1987 and 1992 America lost an average of 32,500 farms per year,
80% were family run farms. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial
Agriculture. Edited by Andrew Kimbrell.

- Seventy years ago there were nearly 7 million American Farmers. Today
there are only 2 million. Less than one million of those farmers claim
farming as their primary occupation. The remaining half rely on a secondary
income. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Edited by
Andrew Kimbrell.

- Several surveys from different wholesale markets in the U.S. show that
fruits and vegetables are traveling between 2500 and 4000 kilometers,
(1500-2500 miles) from farm to market, a 20 percent increase in the last
two decades. World Watch Report, Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a
Global Market. Brian Halweil. 2002

- Farming uses 12% of the total U.S. Petroleum supply, more than any other
single industry. Northeast Farm to Food: Understanding Our Region’s Food
System. Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. 2002

- A nationally sourced food system uses four to ten times more fuel than a
system that relies on local and regional sources of food. As a result,
national food systems release five to ten times more CO2 from burning fuel
compared to a local system. Richard Pirog 2001.
------------------------

paul tradingpost@lobo.net







  • [Livingontheland] current trends in agriculture, TradingPostPaul, 02/13/2007

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