Controlling Corporate Farming
'Sixty-one percent of America's agriculture output comes from corporate farms' (Abbey, 2002). 'Nationwide there are 163,000 corporate operations and 63% of these are under contract to a consolidated firm' (Abbey, 2002). Stated by Fred Kirschenmann, 'If current trends of consolidation continue, and all the farms in Iowa become 225,000 acre farms, there will be only 140 farms in the entire state' (Abbey, 2002).
Large corporations are coming in and taking over the farming industry. They are making it almost impossible for small, family operated farms to survive. 'The six and a half million small farms of 1935 decreased to 575,000 by 1998? (Abbey, 2002). The large corporations are using the land like miners-they strip it down and get what they need, but they don't put anything back to it. Studies have shown that the family farms take care of the soil and put back the nutrients they use. There are different anti-corporate farming laws around the country that are trying to protect the small family farming industry.
?Contrary to misinformation, the world?s embattled small farms are two to ten times more productive per unit than large, tax-subsidized and chemical based operations run by corporate agriculture? (Earth Island Journal, 2000). Many people agree that the larger corporate farms are producing more, but studies show that small farms are more productive because they keep the soil usable for longer periods of time. Corporate farms are becoming like mines as they are stripping the land of its organic matter and nutrients that are essential to crop production. The corporations usually produce a single commodity under contract with a consolidated...
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The idea of the family farm has been destroyed by large food corporations. As discussed in class, industrial farming typically leads to the mass produ...
In 1919, farmers from thirty states, including Missouri, saw a need. They gathered in Chicago and formed the American Farm Bureau Federation. In 1919, they had one goal, they wanted to speak for themselves with the help of their own national organization. Since 1919, Farm Bureau has operated by a philosophy that states: “analyze the problem of farmers and develop a plan of action for these problems” (Missouri). In the past 94 years, the A...
While some industrial farms are bad most of them aren't. This article has changed my point of view on industrial farms completely. While I won't forget that these farms aren't exactly perfect, I will also remember that they could be much worse. Today progress is being made on industrial farms. Now there isn't nearly as much water and fertilizer being wasted as there was several decades ago. If we keep making more progress over the next few years we might be sustainable. If industrial farms were to achieve that goal, it would be a huge accomplishment and an economic relief for farmers around the globe.
...struggling to earn any income at all and sometimes do not even get the opportunity to eat. Another issue that Raj Patel did not touch on is the lack of care consumers have for the farmers. It seems that consumers care about farmers about as much as the corporations do, which, in my opinion, is not a lot. When consumers only care about low prices and large corporations only care about making a profit, the farmers are left out to dry. Many consumers believe “food should be available at a bargain price, a belief that relies on labor exploitation and environmental exhaustion at multiple points along the commodity chain.” (Wright, 95) Corporations as well as consumers generally tend to be selfish and I think Raj Patel is afraid to mention this. If only these people cared a little bit more about each other I believe the hourglass of the food system will begin to even out.
In this report, I will detail the factors that contribute to the price of farmland in Iowa. Agriculture plays an essential role in the economy of this state. As one of the top soybean and corn producers in the United States, an understanding of the cost of land correlates to the cost of these crops……
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.
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In the 1980s, many farmers in the Midwest were running out of business rapidly and found that they could not stay in the agriculture indust...
In the movie “Food Inc” we saw how the food industry keeps their farmers under their control. Food incorporation sets new protocols that require the farmers to keep purchasing more on dept. As a result of loans and only $18,000 annually (Kenner) they are stuck in a hole that they can’t get out of. I find many things disturbing about this. First off, I find it disturbing that he picked a poorly educated farming area. It seems obvious that the farmers don’t know what they got into and don’t have any knownldge of how to get out. I find it an example of poor unionization within the small farmers that are to be blamed not the ones that find out how to exploit it (Kenner).
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...
Envision a farm with an abundance of animals and crops. The farm that most likely comes to mind is not one of giant machinery and smokestacks of pollution, but a vision of the old red barn and cows grazing freely. Sadly, these types of farms are mostly gone in the United States. These ‘family farms’ are being replaced every day by bigger, more industrialized farms. It is sad to see such a staple of the American culture being washed away by a type of farm that is being used purely for economic reasons. Family farming is slowly disappearing from the American landscape. We, as Americans, need to realize the importance of family farming because it produces high quality foods and helps economically for the local community.
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