Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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ventional agriculture is not only responsible for ecological damage; society
is being harmed as well.
D
estruction of Rural Regions
Rural areas are in decline. The numbers are alarming. As the entire U.S.
population doubled over the past seventy years, the number of farmers
dropped from 7 million to only 2 million; and as recently at the 1990s,
we have been losing about 32,500 farms per year (Kimbrell 2002, 17). This
means more than just a loss of rural culture and a way of life. This implies
vast changes for the rural landscape and communities. As these farmers
went bankrupt, many were forced to sell out to their larger, more profitable
neighbors. Average farm size in Illinois, for example, went from 196 acres
in 1959 to 372 acres in 1997. But even this figure doesn't tell the whole story,
as many small “farms” are listed for tax purposes as agricultural land, when
there is very little actual production taking place. A more telling example
of industrial agriculture is this: In 1959 Illinois had 129,157 farms that were
between 50 and 999 acres. By 1997 this number dropped to 37,837. At the
same time, the number of megafarms that are 1,000 acresormorewent
from only 574 in 1959 to 6,737 in 1997 (USDA-NASS 1997).
These numbers shock us but don't tell the human side of the story, as real
families, communities, and towns are decimated by this type of agricultural
change. The local stores and farming equipment dealers leave, then school
districts consolidate, and eventually a small town can vanish. Rural people
have to drive farther to a store, a post office, or a doctor, the quality of life
diminishes, and soon the farmer's son and daughter want to leave rather
than remain in the desolate area.
American history shows us that farming and rural life were vital to our
country's development. “Jefferson believed that the system of land tenure
and distribution adopted would ultimately determine the character of the
new society” (Udall 1963, 32). A vigorous countryside provided a net of
equality for all Americans, an obvious departure from the landed aristocracy
of Europe at the time. So “he favored small freehold landownerships which
would cause class distinctions to disappear. Growing as Jeffersonwould have
had it grow, this country would have been a rural nation thinly populated
by small farmers” (Udall 1963, 32). Our founding fathers andmothers would
undoubtedly be shocked and disappointed to see the current level of our
rural decline. And yet we, as a society, have idly sat by while millions of
farmers have lost their land and left the countryside.
Todaymost of themoneywe spend on food does not go to the farmer who
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