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economic systems??
There has been some discussion of capitalism and some questions
raised as to the connection to sustainable agriculture. I would argue
that such issues are very important. The question of
capitalism is an important one for those concerned with sustainable
agriculture. First, for those of us who feel that all people in this
country as well as world should be able to have access to nutritious food
in adequate quantities - the unfettered workings of capitalism seems to
insure that there are "haves" and "have notsÓ" Second, the natural
workings of the market and powerful banks, processors, transportation
organizations, and input suppliers lead us down a certain road of fewer
and larger farms. Farmers are on a treadmill with perpetually low prices
for commodities (except for short periods of undersupply). This is one of
the major obstacles to a sustainable food system! As important as niche
markets, value added efforts, and CSAs are locally - they are not the
answer for the mass of farmers. If we want to maintain (to say nothing
of increasing) the number of farms, new controls or interventions like
supply management may be necessary.
I know that THE MARKET is currently "in" and intervention and
subsidies are "out". However, the reality is that THE MARKET is a
powerful force for constantly depressing prices of mass produced items
and for decreasing the number of producers (i.e., weeding out the
"unfit"). It is also a powerful force for allocating resources in such a
way as to create and maintain a wide gap between the wealthy and poor.
A myth has developed that government programs don't work. And
certainly there are many examples of programs that are failures. But,
numerous government programs have carried out their intended purposes
quite well. And there are plenty of instances of private (for-profit
as well as non-profit organizations) messing up programs or carrying them
out very inefficiently.
There is certainly much that can be done to lessen the most
detrimental effects of capitalism (social security, unemployment
insurance, medicare, various anti-poverty programs, etc.). However, there
have been economic systems before capitalism and I am confident that
there will be other systems after capitalism, designed specifically to
meet peoples needs and aspirations while enhancing our natural
resources and truly providing equal opportunity.
Best wishes to all SANET folks for the new year - and keep on
discussing issues techncical and philosophical.
FRED
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