Where have all the Where have all the farmers gone?farmers gone?

Where have all the Where have all the farmers gone?farmers gone?

Brian Halweil Brian Halweil

http://www.gudaoxifeng.com/html/35165.shtmlhttp://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/agriculture/strength.htm

The shift from rural areas to cities

• Falling incomes• Rising debt• Rural poverty• Attraction from

urban life -- higher income and more opportunities

http://hsc.csu.edu.au/geography/urban/cities/worldcities/newyork.jpg

RealityReality unemployment and ill health in

the cities marginalization of farmers: a

vicious cycle

Why the farmers quit farming?

http://news.dg.soufun.com/2008-04-09/1646680.htm

Widespread using of chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides

“outsource” expenditures Prevailed players in a food

industry– the processing and packaging business

The power of technology and mechanization in a

industrialized society

http://cul.news.tom.com/2007-08-22/074F/35720085.html

Result from the high technology

• Farmer’s profit margin dropped dramatically

• Small farms are being driven out; fewer farmers on bigger tracts of land producing a greater share of the food supply

• farmers are becoming more dependent and lost the diversity of crops

http://www.nmbb.com.cn/picView.asp?id=84

The squeeze from food cartels

• Centralized control of the food system from the agricultural oligopoly

• Mergers, takeovers and alliances make few agribusiness firms be extremely profitable: widening gap between farm prices and retail food prices

• The result of seeking high profit of corporate bureaucracies: the quality of the food?

• Farmers are losing control of the production process: problem from the bank, contracts and so on

http://searchui.search.mainone.com/cpa-100-20-0-20-1-23-24--1.htm?cat_id=1008451

Result from the high concentration

higher price; lower quality food

losing professional farmers with extensive knowledge

http://dontdatethatdude.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/farmer-john-cornfield2.jpg

Backfire towards rural community: tearing of the

social fabric poverty crimes social class distinctions mental stress lower rates of medical protection breakdown of families ties high rates of suicides security threats

Ecological disruption Lost of crop diversity; simplified crop

system Simplifying the ecology of a field can result

in nitrogen pollution, water pollution (algae blooms) , gargantuan amounts of waste …

Big enterprises are less concerned about the pollution and resource degradation

overuse of antibiotics caused growing antibiotic resistance in food-borne bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter

http://serc.carleton.edu/images/microbelife/topics/red_tide_genera.v3.jpg