It would seem that diversification is self-evident, being a term used to describe the process where a farm adopts one or more new income- generating activities or enterprises and runs these alongside existing agricultural activities. These enterprises may include hired buildings for storage, rented out accommodation or a farm shop. This might seem straightforward, until the results of different studies on the subject are compared, of which then it is apparent that different academics and researchers have interpreted the term in different ways, generating a multitude of, sometimes contradictory meanings (as observed by Ilbery (1991) and DEFRA (2008).
DEFRA broadly defined diversification as “the entrepreneurial used of farm resources for a non-agricultural purpose for commercial gain” (statistics.defra.gov.uk, 2014) however in the publication they go on to state that this definition is used for statistical purposes only. DEFRA also include activities such as tourism, sport, recreation, processing as those which fall under the definition of diversification.
Even though the production of organic or novel crops are still classified as agricultural activities however much they reveal a change in purpose and could be classed as an entrepreneurial activity. Activities, which do not utilise farm resources such as those providing off- farm employment or investment, are also discarded as diversification.
In 2002/2003, it was estimated that 56% of “full-time” farms in England had a diversified business according to the Farm Business Survey (FBS) (statistics.defra.gov.uk, 2014), although this figure excludes all contract work, both agricultural and non agricultural. A dissimilar figure was published by the June Census, which estimated that 1...
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.... 2013: p38). This has given the Farm Shop a market of consumers who do care about where their food comes from and how it is produced, which in turn has lead to the number of farm shops in the UK increasing over the last 30 years as proved by the meat trade daily news in comparison to Haines and Davies.
Consumers desire for Farm- Fresh healthy food has on the contrary given a boost to the farm shop, which was not exploited in many parts of the country in the 1980’s. (Haines, Davies. 1987: p226)
Consumers have the perception that SFSCs offer farmers increased returns. This is illustrated by work by Feagan and Morris (2009), which examined consumer motivations for shopping at a Farmers’ Market in Ontario, Canada, using a survey of 149 customers. They found that a total of 83% of the respondents agreed strongly about supporting local farmers. (Kneafsey, M. et al. 2013)
RNRA Team, “Supermarkets, Fresh Produce and New Commodity Chains: What Future for the Small Producer?” Hot Topics: February, 2004.
After reading McKibben and Hurst’s articles in the book Food Matters, both authors present arguments on “industrial farming”, and although Hurst provides a realistic sense on farming, McKibben’s suggestions should be what we think about.
A counter argument to the conclusion that we should not trust nor buy from our food industries could be the obvious reason that food is cheaper than ever before. When times are hard in America, we can always count on the cheap price of our fast food restaurants and their dollar menus. However, these cheap prices come at a high cost. The reason meat or grains, for example, are so cheap, is due to subsidizing the market. While this may be great for consumers, it is actually incredibly harmful to local farmers. Artificially driving down the prices
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
...armers’ markets, raise your own cow– the list goes on. These methods are all possible. But speaking as a “run-of-the-mill, suburban citizen”, even after knowing all the ills of factory farming, these methods are not appealing to me. We all like convenience and affordability, which these methods cannot offer AYYYY CITE And that is truly the issue here. The meat that we are getting– that convenient meat that none of us seem to want to live without– is quite frankly grotesque and unhealthy. But we keep eating.
More and more farm-to-table restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food co-ops are cropping up to meet the demand among consumers for healthy, local foods, as more chefs and consumers recognize the poorer taste and nutritional integrity of ingredients shipped in from far away. Fruits and vegetables that have to be shipped long distances are often picked before they have a chance to fully ripen and absorb nutrients from their surroundings. Because local food doesn’t have to travel long distances, it is grown in order to taste better and be healthier rather than to be resilient to long travel. The farm-to-table movement also helps local economies by supporting small farmers, which is a dying
...at small farms constitute 90 percent of the world’s farms and employment of 1.3 billion people. This dominates agriculture in developing countries because two-thirds of the 3 billion rural people in the world live off the income generated by farmers managing some 500 million small farms (Halberg & Müller, 2012, p.21). Additionally, there are benefits to land conservation for local communities that involves reduced environmental hazards, improvement of water quality from ground recharge, economic gains from agricultural production from exporting, and the natural settings that bring tourism generating the economy (McMahon & Urban, 2010 p.2). It is only through the awareness of this informational insight into the differences between community types and their transitions throughout time that the public can explore and discover economic incentives for rural communities.
While the organic movement has increased the production and sale of organic food in the United States, something that should be noted is that the stock of Whole Foods Market, a grocery store is dedicated to the sale of organic food, has gone down 40% since October of 2013. Whole Foods Market’s success rates are slowly beginning to diminish and it may lose its dominance in the organic foods market (The Economist, 2014). While this may seem indicative of a decrease in public interest of organic food, it really indicates the opposite. After seeing the success of Whole Foods Market, new stores such as Trader Joe’s and Sprouts entered the organic market and became strong competition. The decline in Whole Foods Market’s success may be attributed
...ative aspects of diversification, for example through better corporate planning, human recourse management and reaching further synergies between its various business lines.
Fast food has changed farming, ranching, and meatpacking to an extent where it is nearly impossible to recover due to the amount of meat that is being consumed in the United States and the amount of meat that are required to prepare those products in America and other foreign countries. The author of Fast Food Nation stated, “Ranchers currently face a host of economic problems: rising land prices, stagnant beef prices, oversupplies of cattle, increased shipments of live cattle from Canada and Mexi...
Food Inc. is a documentary displaying the United States food industry in a negative light by revealing the inhumane, eye opening, worst case scenario processes of commercial farming for large corporate food manufacturing companies. Food Inc. discusses, at length, the changes that society and the audience at home can make to their grocery shopping habits to enable a more sustainable future for all involved.
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
The organic food market tipped during the early 1980s, before Whole Foods Market ever existed. However, the organic farming concept occurred in England 40 years before it tipped in the United States. After years of agricultural research’s experiences and observations, Sir Albert Howard gradually evolved a philosophy and a concept of organic farming (Heckman, 2006). Organic farming was about recycling crops and livestock back to the soil in order to escalate soil fertility. This method quickly spread in Europe; however, it was not until USDA published Report and Recommendation on Organic Farming then brought significant appreciation to the United States. In 1980’s, several policies such as the Organic Foods Producti...
Farmers are essentially the back-bone of the entire food system. Large-scale family farms account for 10% of all farms, but 75% of overall food production, (CSS statistics). Without farmers, there would be no food for us to consume. Big business picked up on this right away and began to control the farmers profits and products. When farmers buy their land, they take out a loan in order to pay for their land and farm house and for the livestock, crops, and machinery that are involved in the farming process. Today, the loans are paid off through contracts with big business corporations. Since big business has such a hold over the farmers, they take advantage of this and capitalize on their crops, commodities, and profits. Farmers are life-long slaves to these b...
(The Sustainability of Irish Agriculture, n.d.) Sustainability is very important on my home farm. Practices have been put in place that won’t cause harm to the environment. My home farm is a small, family enterprise and I feel that new approaches are needed in order to maintain the farms sustainability status. Non-renewable inputs that are harmful to the environment or to the health of farmers should be minimised. As well as this, farmers have knowledge and skills that could be put into use, therefore substituting human capital for costly external outputs. Sustainable agriculture outcomes can be positive for food productivity, reduced pesticide use and carbon balances. (Agricultural Sustainability: concepts, principles and evidence, 2007) In this essay, I will discuss the principles and practices of sustainable agriculture, identifying how they may relate to my home farm. I will then discuss whether or not present activities can change to more sustainable methods in the