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  • From: "David Inglis" <mhcsa AT bcn.net>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [Market-farming] Scratching My Head/praying
  • Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 01:06:27 -0500


Rick Williams wrote:
> If organic feed really is needed, it will be produced at the
> price point that the producers find economically viable. The
> users of the input simply HAVE to pay more, whether they like
> it or not. No different than any other product or service of
> the market.

Though I agree with Mr. Williams that the market can meet the demand for
goods in short supply, either by direct supply or substitution, it does
not follow that the above statement is correct or that such a system
will result in a healthy Agriculture. The situation described above
would be an exception if it occurred. Market systems do not stop price
pressure at the point of 'economic viability'. Most Ag.products
stabilize at below cost pricing and the enterprises that produce them
are supported by either: Other enterprises such as, for example, spouse,
land speculation, food re manufacture, government enterprise [subsidy]
or unrelated sister enterprises that bury their capital gains. Or self
imposed slavery on the part of the producers resulting in hopelessness
followed by living off depreciation, divorce and finally bankruptcy and
or suicide [ change order to suit ]. In other words the appropriation of
personal wealth by the market. The net effect is non viable Ag
enterprises [ taken on their own ] that set prices for the rest of us
that are trying to make a living exclusively from food growing. One
strategy to respond to this is differentiation of product and/or
customer base which is what most on this list spend their time doing. I
believe this will only work in the short term though. E. Pfeiffer[?] was
once asked if a BioDynamic Farm could stand on its own two feet. He
replied that it could anywhere a conventional one would.[ paraphrased]
Which is to say, sadly, almost nowhere in the American landscape
today.[my words ]

I amazes me that even adherents of the free market myth [ and I do see
it as a myth, but that would be OT ] get bent out of shape at the price
differential between 'Organic' and Convention products. I was once
accosted by the Comm. Of Ag for Mass., after a 'free market' type talk
he gave, about the 'ridiculous' cost of Organic food. It took from soup
to the end of the main dish before I convinced him that there is nothing
inherent in Organic Ag. that causes this but simply that the Organic
Industry is growing at 25% and the demand is growing faster. This will
of course come to an end and then we will head towards the 'race to the
bottom', the beginnings of which we see happening now and that
precipitated this 'thread'. The question for me is what to do about it?
[the future inevitabilities of which this is only one] For me the key is
not the market, about which we can do very little, but the social
framework in which we operate, which we can influence. The rules of the
market are well known but they do not operate in a vacuum. I believe
that Agriculture is in so much trouble because the social fabric it
operates in has been destroyed and has not been replaced by anything
else- yet. It is notable that the economic success of the Amish is
mostly due to the intact social fabric they cultivate not their choice
of equipment etc. Perhaps we need such a social association but one that
is not based on blood ties. The farm group that I work with, that began
as an apprentice training group, is morphing into something else to
begin working on this. Is anyone else? More later.
Yours
David A. Inglis
Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A.













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