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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