www.agnetwork.com
by Dan Murphy
With the near-collapse of the U.S. financial sector in 2008 stirring Congress to fund a bailout for banks, the principals behind Farm Aid called for a recognition that farmers could play a key role in reviving rural economies across the country.
As Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews wrote to Congress in September of that year, “We want to alert you to what a mere $1 billion could do in the hands of the people who grow our food. When farms fail, Main Street businesses fail; when farms thrive, Main Street and local communities thrive.”
Investing in sustainable and local food production, the letter went on to say, would conserve energy, create economic opportunities and revitalize food and farm production systems. To detail how such an investment could be directed—and to itemize the benefits—a special report was commissioned titled, “Rebuilding America’s Economy with Farm-Centered Food Systems.”
Alicia Harvie is Farm Aid’s Program Manager and serves as its key issues researcher. As the lead author of the report, her work helped quantify the economic benefits derived from entrepreneurial agricultural activities and the impact that has on the rural areas of the country in particular.
To discuss how local and regional food systems could strengthen economic and job-creation opportunities and help support a new generation of farm families, Harvie spoke with Dan Murphy, AgNETWORK.COM’S Contributing Editor.
AGNETWORK.COM: Your report details the challenges facing small farmers—all farmers, actually—in terms of the increasing cost of energy and inputs and ongoing price volatility in the marketplace. As committed as farmers might be to the changes you propose, how much control do they have over those market dynamics?
Harvie: Part of the problem is concentration across agriculture: everything from seed suppliers to market access tends to be controlled by fewer and fewer players. Most family farmers get squeezed by this system, and that’s reflected in the fact that only 19 cents of every food dollar actually goes to the farmer. Our goals is to develop new supply chains for value-added or differentiated farm products that can improve market access and bring better returns to farmers.
AGNETWORK.COM: What about land use issues? You can’t drive through any metro area in the country without seeing thousands of what once were working farms swallowed up development. In terms of local food production, how do we deal with urbanization and the disappearance of not just family farms but farmland itself?
Harvie: That’s a huge issue. If farming isn’t a priority with land-use planners at the state and local level, you will see farms disappearing. There needs to be incentives in place to keep that land in farming, not just for smaller family-owned farms, but for larger, mid-sized farms as well.
AGNETWORK.COM: Another challenge is that the average age of farmers in our most productive farm states is nearing retirement. How do we recruit the next generation of farmers, especially with the high barriers to entry in terms of the cost of land?
Harvie: It’s really critical. Our farm population is aging, and the typical balance sheet for many farms looks pretty grim, in terms of attracting new people to the profession. Where we do see opportunities is on farms that are using alternative production and marketing systems—direct-to-market chains, organic farms and specialty growers, as examples. That’s where you see new people; that’s where there’s hope for a new generations of farmers.
AGNETWORK.COM: You’re talking about farmers who aren’t in the commodity markets?
Harvie: Yes. We believe that the goal is to produce a differentiated product, something value-added from the farm that can be sold through a supply chain where the farmer has some control. We know there is a growing demand for locally sourced produce and for farm-branded products that can be sold to consumers who want to support family farming.
AGNETWORK.COM: But aren’t you asking a lot if farmers not only need to be experts at growing crops and managing a farm, but also need to have marketing and entrepreneurial skills too?
Harvie: That’s a big part of what Farm Aid does, supporting those organizations that are working to help farmers to develop new products, to obtain the marketing support they need and to build partnerships with processors who will work to preserve the identity of their products, so that they can command better prices in the marketplace. But we also know that agriculture is a very capital-starved sector, so at the same time, we need to restructure the credit and risk-management systems to make it possible for new farmers to get loans and crop insurance and to invest in the equipment and technology they need to be competitive.
AGNETWORK.COM: Who needs to be the catalyst in this process?
Harvie: Well, it starts with people, with all of us. When you’re shopping, buying food from farmer’s markets, from community-supported agriculture programs or locally produced food, it creates demand that supports not just small farmers but mid-sized and larger operations, as well. We profile a number of new initiatives along those lines in our report, and as those opportunities expand, both farm and local community economics can be greatly strengthened.
AGNETWORK.COM: I guess it does start with the choices we make.
Harvie: Absolutely. As Americans, we spend a trillion dollars a year on food purchases. We all need to realize how powerful we all are in terms of changing the food system to help farmers stay productive and profitable.
›› To review the Farm Aid report, “Rebuilding America’s Economy with Farm-Centered Food Systems,” log onto
www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.6037327/k.C770/Welcome.htm.