Industrial agriculture, as it is currently practiced, cannot continue indefinitely. There are many ‘negative tips’ associated with modern farming which link culture, economics, society, environment and equity. These include the following issues:
- Agricultural, oil and water subsidies distorting market forces and leading to oversupply and depression of produce prices on world markets (and leading to floods of cheap produce such as rice and grain into areas where local farmers can’t compete);
- The vulnerability of small and mid-size farmers to deflation of prices or volatility of markets for agricultural commodities, leading to their inability to compete with larger farmers;
- Inability of small and mid-size farms to compete in increasingly global markets, leading to their bankruptcy and foreclosure, which in turn leads to the cycle of rural depopulation and eroding rural social fabric;
- Subsidies on water and oil which lock farmers into industrial-scale irrigation, groundwater ‘mining’, which sets up a ‘time bomb’ where major aquifers of the world’s breadbaskets (such as the mid-west of the United States and Punjab State in India) may dry up rather suddenly;
- Erosion of soil and escalating dependence on petroleum-based fertilizers and its impacts on rivers and other water bodies;
- Dependence on fossil fuels on farms as well as for long-distance transportation of produce;
- Erosion in local food security as farms consolidate and are located increasingly distant from urban regions, and distribution becomes more centralized;
- The global trade of farm produce eroding local food marketing and distribution networks;
- Escalating dependence on pesticides as pests develop resistance to ever-stronger pesticides;
- The emergence of genetically modified food and its potential to ‘contaminate’ non-genetically modified crops on a regional and even continental scale;
- The loss of co-adaptation and loss of resilience; for example, mono-cropping creating vulnerability to pest outbreaks, the vulnerability of dependence on global markets with their volatile fluctuations on prices;
- The ‘addiction’ dynamic: the pesticide treadmill, the fertilizer/soil erosion treadmill, the dependence on subsidies.
USA/Canada – The Organic Farming Movement in North America: Moving towards Sustainable Agriculture
by Amanda Suutari
The ‘Negative Tip’ of Conventional Agriculture
http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/our-stories/indepth/usa-canada-sustainable-organic-farming.html
It has become increasingly well-documented that conventional agriculture, as it is currently practiced, cannot be sustained indefinitely. In North America and beyond, the ever-consolidating food systems are characterized by interlocking, mutually reinforcing vicious cycles involving rural depopulation, urban sprawl, and eroding local food security, as well as a host of environmental issues including water problems, soil erosion, and unintended consequences of pesticide and GMO contamination.
As ever-more sophisticated North American consumers begin to embrace all things organic, the last two decades have seen a skyrocketing demand for organic food. The ‘mainstreaming’ of organics is a dynamic, complex, and sometimes controversial phenomenon. As consumers buy mixed salad greens that travel thousands of kilometers to their local Wal-marts and Costcos, environmental and consumer activists condemn commercial organics for how it has drifted away from the movement’s original ideals.
Meanwhile, other voices, such as that of Michael Pollan, author of the pivotal Omnivore’s Dilemma, see the mainstreaming of organics as the start of a transformation towards a more sustainable approach to food and farming. This introductory report will provide a snapshot of the ‘landscape’ of North America, and will serve as a preface to a second report to appear on the website soon. This follow-up report will focus on one business which is helping to create new virtuous cycles as North America shifts towards a more sustainable food system.
While it is impossible to capture the breadth or scope this subject deserves, this paper will highlight some general emerging trends, as well as specific mechanisms driving these trends. It will provide a historical context on the movement as it transformed from a movement into a multi-billion dollar industry, and outlines the role of various stakeholders: the government, consumers, producers (from the family farmer to the ‘agribusiness’), civil society, and retailers. It will also look at how this landscape ties into food security and sustainability, and how the current mainstreaming of organics is just one stage in a larger EcoTipping Point towards sustainable agriculture in North America and beyond.