Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
institutions to foster agricultural science in the public interest, and pro-
viding resources to these kinds of organizations is a critical role for
private, philanthropic foundations.
Second, the US Congress should reform the out-dated and misguided
federal crop subsidy system, and replace it with public support for land
stewardship. Chapter 4 of the 1989
Alternative Agriculture
report by the
National Research Council was titled “Economic Evaluation of
Alternative Farming Systems.” It begins:
Interest in alternative farming systems is often motivated by a desire to reduce
health and environmental hazards and a commitment to natural resource
stewardship. But the most important criterion for many farmers considering a
change in farming practices is likely the economic outcome. Wide adoption of
alternative farming methods requires that they be at least as profitable as
conventional methods or have significant non-monetary advantages, such as
preservation of rapidly deteriorating soil or water resources.
Many sustainable agriculture programs based at LGUs are now invest-
ing less in alternative practices and more in alternative markets. The
concentration in the industrial agrofood system continues to squeeze
small and medium-size farmers out of markets, and concern for one's
economic survival understandably trumps improving environmental
stewardship. One participant in the Practical Farmers of Iowa said: “I
don't want to be the last farmer in my county doing a nutrient budget.”
Developing agroecological practices makes no sense to a farmer who
cannot pay the bills. For more agroecological strategies and practices to
be put into action will require dismantling the existing federal system of
subsidizing selected crops and replacing it with an incentives system that
encourages stewardship. A tiny fraction of California agriculture receives
federal subsidies, and this appears to have enabled the extraordinary
scale of agroecological innovation here. At present, American farm pol-
icy provides incentives for wasteful and harmful agricultural practices,
and penalizes farmers for developing alternative crops, practices, and
markets. Agroecology will remain a marginal practice so long as it is a
personal virtue, only of interest to a few leading growers.
The 1996 farm bill, known as the “Freedom to Farm” bill, marked the
first effort to reform the New Deal commodity payment programs by
allowing farmers to rotate crops without losing crop support. It also
included the Fund for Rural America, which was conceived as a strategy
for shifting some of the support for commodities to more diverse,
