How America's Food Giants Swallowed the Family Farm

brianlux

So anyway, on to important matters.  The family farm?  How important is it?  How do we save the family farm and feed all the hungry.  The food giants want it all.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/american-food-giants-swallow-the-family-farms-iowa

brianlux

My bias is firstly that I don't believe Food Giants produce healthy food.  And secondly that family farms are the future anyway so lets not let those skills go away.

Meltdown99

Large Family Farms Continue To Dominate U.S. Agricultural Production

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/march/large-family-farms-continue-to-dominate-us-agricultural-production/

According to this article, 90% of farms in America are still family operations, as of 2015.

rgambs

Meltdown99 said:

Large Family Farms Continue To Dominate U.S. Agricultural Production

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/march/large-family-farms-continue-to-dominate-us-agricultural-production/

According to this article, 90% of farms in America are still family operations, as of 2015.

Ha!  Yeah, sure, if you consider a family farm to be any farm owned by an individual.
Then yes, 90% of farmlands are owned by people, and not corporations.
Of course, they don't own the equipment, the seed stock, the produce, or even the very production process.

Meltdown99

rgambs said:

Meltdown99 said:

Large Family Farms Continue To Dominate U.S. Agricultural Production

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/march/large-family-farms-continue-to-dominate-us-agricultural-production/

According to this article, 90% of farms in America are still family operations, as of 2015.

Ha!  Yeah, sure, if you consider a family farm to be any farm owned by an individual.
Then yes, 90% of farmlands are owned by people, and not corporations.
Of course, they don't own the equipment, the seed stock, the produce, or even the very production process.

So, if they feel signing on with a corporation for a fixed price on their product when they sell and they are comfortable, good for them.  This is not 1960 where farmers faced little to no competition...

josevolution

The old pac-man syndrome, did this happen because of raising population in this country..

benjs

Meltdown99 said:

rgambs said:

Meltdown99 said:

Large Family Farms Continue To Dominate U.S. Agricultural Production

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/march/large-family-farms-continue-to-dominate-us-agricultural-production/

According to this article, 90% of farms in America are still family operations, as of 2015.

Ha!  Yeah, sure, if you consider a family farm to be any farm owned by an individual.
Then yes, 90% of farmlands are owned by people, and not corporations.
Of course, they don't own the equipment, the seed stock, the produce, or even the very production process.

So, if they feel signing on with a corporation for a fixed price on their product when they sell and they are comfortable, good for them.  This is not 1960 where farmers faced little to no competition...

I'll try to dig up what the documentary was called, but I remember watching something about how the terms of engagements with these big companies (especially in the egg production world) are so unilaterally favouring the corporate backers, meanwhile the farmers often can't get by without a corporate partnership. The documentary framed it as close to exploitation, where farmers are given no control over their operations (or the ethical treatment of their animals), and these deals are often signed multi-year, and are accompanied by gag orders and steep fines akin to blackmail for discussing the disturbing nature of the facilities.

It seems to me pretty unfairly imbalanced if those behaviours are commonplace in 'family owned farms', but I'm honestly not sure whose obligation it is to re-balance it. 

what dreams

Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma describes the situation well. Vote with your fork.
I try to support local, sustainable as much as possible. The problem is the cost. A pound of meat at my local farm store or farmer's market is two- to three- times the price at the grocery store. I understand their price more accurately reflects the cost of producing "real" food than mass produced factory food, but I also understand why the average American family can't afford to spend their entire hourly wage on one pound of meat. It really is a dilemma.
Then there's the whole organic thing -- again, twice the cost at a grocery store and you can't even trust the organic label anymore.
I wish more people understood this problem. I wish politicians would make it front and center in discussions about climate change and health care and the economy. Some want to take on the energy companies. Some want to take on the pharmaceutical companies. Both of those industries are in bed with our food companies, but nobody brings that up. I always wonder why.   

brianlux

rgambs said:

Meltdown99 said:

Large Family Farms Continue To Dominate U.S. Agricultural Production

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/march/large-family-farms-continue-to-dominate-us-agricultural-production/

According to this article, 90% of farms in America are still family operations, as of 2015.

Ha!  Yeah, sure, if you consider a family farm to be any farm owned by an individual.
Then yes, 90% of farmlands are owned by people, and not corporations.
Of course, they don't own the equipment, the seed stock, the produce, or even the very production process.

And what percentage of land is farmed by family farms when a family farm might just be a couple hundred acres and the average mega-corporate farm can be thousands of acres? 

brianlux

what dreams said:

Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma describes the situation well. Vote with your fork.
I try to support local, sustainable as much as possible. The problem is the cost. A pound of meat at my local farm store or farmer's market is two- to three- times the price at the grocery store. I understand their price more accurately reflects the cost of producing "real" food than mass produced factory food, but I also understand why the average American family can't afford to spend their entire hourly wage on one pound of meat. It really is a dilemma.
Then there's the whole organic thing -- again, twice the cost at a grocery store and you can't even trust the organic label anymore.
I wish more people understood this problem. I wish politicians would make it front and center in discussions about climate change and health care and the economy. Some want to take on the energy companies. Some want to take on the pharmaceutical companies. Both of those industries are in bed with our food companies, but nobody brings that up. I always wonder why.   

Great point about Pollan's excellent book.

Yes, it's unfortunate that "organic" has lost it's original meaning as it relates to food.  We buy most of our produce during the months that our farmer's market is up and running and I will often asked if a grower's produce is organic.  Many have told me that they cannot "officially" label their food organic but when they tell me they do not use toxic herbicides and such and briefly explain their growing methods I tell them that is good enough for me and make the purchase. 

As far as the meat situation is concerned, I really believe that as long as the human population is as high as it is the best thing to do is limit one's consumption of meat or cut it out all-together.  Americans eat too much red meat anyway, not only for the sake of the planet but for their own health.