Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Big Ag hurts the small farm

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Big Ag hurts the small farm
  • Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 00:27:44 +0100


Dan, I think we agree but you use some words that I think you define otherwise than I would.
Take your first sentense as an example :

Yes, John, but that's only if we allow leadership to measure profits
exclusively with money.

I have a great problem with the word "leadership". We are not being led but rather suppressed by some of the most evil corporations that have ever been. Monsanto, Big Pharma, the Military Industrial Complex and others are the government. And there is only one thing a corporation is interested in and that is profit. And they are well capable of killing anybody, you or me, who makes an attempt to not allow them something as essential as their reason for being.
It is time for a revolution and "it will be a nice day to die". (What Sioux Indians used to say before a battle)
John



From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Big Ag hurts the small farm


I fear oil and big machines changed that a bit Dan. Small scale is still
more productive but not necessarily more profitable.
When profits are measured in benefits to the
future of our children, Big Ag will always come up short.
Money is king right now, but any particular empire follows a boom and
bust cycle. Thanks to the cheap food of Big Ag, a lot more Petroboomer
people are going to be affected when the collapse comes. That's the
point that needs to be emphasized when the academic sycophants come
around telling us how to care for the land.
The farmer isn't a businessman: he isn't a tool: she isn't providing
food even. The farmer's primary purpose is to act as the interface
between people and nature. Without farmers, everyone is at the mercy of
nature's tooth and claw existence, and nature is at the mercy of
Consumption Droid Industry.
Allowing a few food processing companies to pay for glorification of a
few Extraction Managers (Big Farms) is a direct result of people falling
for the Cheap Food is Good policies of an expansionist mindset in
government.
When the expansion of the Imperialists begins to retract, we'll have to
make room for a lot of people and their re-education, and even so, we
won't be able to help very many at all (percentage-wise).

Dan C.

On 10/11/2013 11:00 AM, livingontheland-request@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:49:30 +0100
From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Big Ag hurts the small farm


I fear oil and big machines changed that a bit Dan. Small scale is still
more productive but not necessarily more profitable. A few years ago we got
a letter from our Dep. of ag. in the letterbox explaining that we should aim
to expand. An example was given from a huge beef farm where a man and wife
team rounded up 450 beef animals per week by helicopter. They made just $5
of profit per head but that still made for a few thousand $$ per week. We
were told we had to aim for something like that.
And indeed big farmers make small profits per head on huge numbers and the
whole system is further geared to benefit them. For instance, we have a
compulsory annual Tb test. A farmer with just 4 cattle will pay something
like $160 for this or $40 per head. A man with 400 cattle will pay $300 or
less than $1 per head.
No wonder so many small ones are squeezed out of business. However, if oil
gets too expensive it are the big ones that will get it in the neck while
the small farms may survive. The question is how many small farms will be
left by then though.
John



_______________________________________________
Livingontheland mailing list
Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page