Traditional Family Farms Research Articles

Confined animal feeding operations and state-based right to farm laws: Managing twenty-first century agriculture with a twentieth century framework in the case of Wisconsin, United States

O ver the last several decades, large, industrial livestock farms have increasingly replaced small, traditional family farms, thereby changing normative agricultural practices and increasing the quantity and concentration of externalities associated with farming (dust, odor, manure runoff, chemical drift, and soil and groundwater contamination). Limited federal regulations exist to protect nearby ecosystems, wildlife, and people from soil, air, and water pollution from industrial farms. Furthermore, many statewide right to farm laws continue to protect industrial farms from private and public nuisance claims associated with environmental degradation. Right to farm laws were first adopted by state legislatures in the 1980s in response to the expansion of peri-urban development and the increased conflict between new suburban residents and existing farmers in the United States (Lapping and Leutwiler 1987). New suburban residents increasingly filed private and public nuisance claims against nearby farmers due to encroachment of agricultural dust, noise, smell, and chemical drift (Lisansky and Clark 1987). The high court costs and desirable real estate offers from developers pressured farmers to discontinue farming, and lawmakers feared the long-term consequences resulting from diminishing agricultural operations (Lisansky and Clark 1987). While every US state adopted their own version of a right to farm law in the…

The women who feed us: Gender empowerment (or lack thereof) in rural Southern Brazil

This article focuses on understanding the question: what do recent studies on the modernization of Brazilian agriculture tell us about the changes in gender dynamics as a traditional family farm moves to alternative strategies for reproduction and how do these respective roles empower or disempower women? To understand this issue, this article determines what kinds of roles women occupy in traditional family farms, as well as the urban roles they take on after the phenomenon of pluriactivity manifests, and evaluates these roles in an empowerment index. The analysis shows that the family farm is the least empowering option of the strategies I identified (and urban migration the most empowering), and that we can seek to emulate the empowering qualities of urban employment within family farms to maximize their future empowerment. A possible pathway to empowering women on family farms includes feminist support for the institutionalization of programs that make gender dynamics more equal within family farms.

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPLEMENTATION IN THE BRAZILIAN FAMILY FARMING CONTEXT IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE CO2 AND CH4 EMISSIONS, A FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS

In Biguacu County, State of Santa Catarina, traditional family farming represents most of the county’s activity. These family farmers carry out a particular land use on which agriculture, forest and energy production are related. These farmers perform fallow agriculture in secondary subtropical forests (Atlantic Forest biome) where, energy production is made in the form of charcoal. As charcoal production is realized in traditional handcrafted kilns, gravimetric yield is meager and greenhouse gases emissions are high. In order to improve this scenario it has been experimentally installed in late 2014 a volatile recovery system (SRV). The SRV installation respond to three main characteristics: to be easily reproducible by others farmers, to have a low initial investment and to be locally adapted. The SRV allows the condensation of the gas fraction during production, obtaining pyroligneous acid (PA). Calculations indicate a PA production potential of about three thousand-liter year. Initial investment is reachable by local farmers and the investment recovery will take five years. The implementation results in a 30% increase in profits, a minimization of 1/8 of total emissions and 15% improve in gravimetric yield. With this basis, the SRV implementation can be considered as a feasible green infrastructure at regional scale. Key-words : Emerging Countries, SME, Technological innovations, Feasibility analysis, CO2 and CH4 emissions, Family Farming.

The political ecology of ecosystem services

The dominance of “ecosystem services” as a guiding concept for environmental management – where it appears as a neutral, obvious, taken-for-granted concept – hides the fact that there are choices implicit in its framing and in its application. In other words, it is a highly political concept, and its utility depends on the arena in which it is used and what it is used for. Following a political ecology framework, and based on a literature review, bibliometric analyses, and brief examples from two tropical rainforest countries, this review investigates four moments in the construction and application of the ecosystem services idea: socio-historical (the emergence of the discourse), ontological (what knowledge does the concept allow?), scientific (difficulties in its practical application), and political (who wins, who loses?). We show how the concept is a boundary object with widespread appeal, trace the discursive and institutional context within which it gained traction, and argue that choices of scale, definition, and method in measuring ecosystem services frustrate its straightforward application. As a result, it is used in diverse ways by different interests to justify different kinds of interventions that at times might be totally opposed. In Madagascar, the ecosystem services idea is mainly used to justify forest conservation in ways open to critique for its neoliberalization of nature or disempowerment of communities. In contrast, in the Brazilian Amazon, the discourse of ecosystem services has served the agendas of traditional populations and family farm lobbies. Ecosystem services, as an idea and tool, are mobilized by diverse actors in real-life situations that lead to complex, regionally particular and fundamentally political outcomes.

Multifunctionality: A New Future for Family Farms

First paragraphs: I was surprised to have been asked recently by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to write a policy paper on family farming in North America in recognition of the International Year of the Family Farm (Ikerd, 2014). I questioned whether the FAO actually wanted me to write the paper, because of my nonconventional views of American agriculture. In the process, however, I discovered that much of the rest of the world is awakening to the realization that the values of traditional family farming are essential to ensure global food security. The U.S., Canada, and Australia have found few allies in their championing of industrial agriculture as being necessary to avoid massive hunger in the future. The concept of multifunctional agriculture, as commonly used in international trade and policy discussions, refers to the multiple potential benefits of agriculture, emphasizing the importance of non-economic benefits of agriculture. Farms in this context are inherently multifunctional in that they have multiple ecological, social, and economic impacts on nature and society. A global report, Agriculture at a Crossroads, points out that multifunctional agriculture provides food, feed, fiber, fuel and other goods...has a major influence on other essential ecosystem services such as water supply and carbon sequestration or release...plays an important social role, providing employment and a way of life...is a medium of cultural transmission and cultural practices worldwide...[and] provide[s] a foundation for local economies (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development [IAASTD], p. 6)....

Place de l'agriculture itinérante familiale dans la foresterie communautaire au Gabon

L'agriculture itinérante reste un système de production partagé par une grande majorité de groupes ethnolinguistiques, et appelé à se maintenir au Gabon. Elle s'exprime généralement dans un rayon de cinq kilomètres autour de l'unité de résidence. Au Gabon, cette zone est précisément celle destinée à accueillir depuis fin 2013 les premières forêts communautaires. Les préceptes de durabilité qui sous-tendent la notion de forêt communautaire impliquent le maintien d'un couvert forestier et pourraient entrer en contradiction avec la pratique de cette agriculture itinérante. Celle-ci prélève en effet, à chaque saison, un volume de bois soustrait au potentiel du massif concerné. Les plans simples de gestion des forêts communautaires prévoient une série agricole pour ne pas mettre en concurrence deux activités sur un même espace. Cela permet également de reconnaître la place socio-économique importante de l'agriculture en milieu rural. L'agroforesterie est une des clés pour articuler l'agriculture familiale et l'exploitation de la forêt communautaire. Conserver sur pied des arbres d'intérêt économique, social ou environnemental, d'une part, épargne de pénibles travaux d'abattage et, d'autre part, limite quantitativement l'impact de la coupe et du brûlis qui n'est plus systématique. L'introduction d'essences utiles, rares, protégées ou encore de bois d'oeuvre permet également d'élever la valeur économique et patrimoniale des parcelles agricoles tout en répondant aux exigences en matière de conservation et de durabilité du plan simple de gestion de la forêt communautaire. Par ce biais, l'agriculture familiale coutumière est pérennisée et sécurisée dans l'enceinte d'une portion de forêt légalement reconnue tandis que les techniques culturales y sont optimisées.

Extension Education: Myth or Reality

Extension Education (popularly known as Agricultural Extension) is a science and art of ‘helping people help themselves’ in shaping their behavior in desirable direction based on the philosophy and principle of ‘learning by doing'and ‘seeing is believing’. There are several branches of Extension Education-veterinary and animal husbandry extension, fishery extension, home science extension, forestry extension, health extension and the like-depending on the field where the philosophy and principles of Extension Education is applied. As per the philosophy, an Extension Educator should be a teacher, guide, friend and philosopher to the villagers. But, there is a gap between the philosophy and practice, between what is and what ought to be. Mixed farming system based on the socio-economic and cultural considerations is the foundation of Indian agriculture. Under this traditional family farming system animal husbandry has a complementary and supplementary relationship with crop husbandry the significance of which is never realized in the practice of Extension Education. The crux of the problem lies in the practice of viewing crop and livestock separately at par with the western specialized farming. The tendency of perceiving Indian agriculture from the western perspective is not going to bring any desirable change in our countryside. It is high time to bring science down to the ploughman's doorstep to help him taking timely and wise decision to improve his farm and home in a sustainable manner. To achieve this we need a large number of philosophers in ‘helping people help themselves’ in shaping their behavior in desirable direction. This paper is an attempt towards that direction.

Gendered business activities in family farm forestry: From round wood delivery to health service

The development of non-wood forest products and services has been put forward as a means for business diversification and development of rural areas. However, the well-documented male dominance in traditional family farm forestry (FFF) is considered to restrain women's involvement in forestry activities, and thus hamper new enterprising businesses. Given the gender structure in traditional forestry, it is hypothesised that women are more likely to engage in less traditional activities than men. Through a cluster analysis of data from the Swedish Farmers Association's member survey, typical combinations of forest-related business activities were identified. The representation of women and men as operational managers within each activity was assessed. Results show that traditional forestry is the main task for both male and female FFF owners, however, women engage more often than men in service-oriented business activities. The main conclusion is that the prevailing pattern on the labour market, with women predominately within service and care professions, seems to be reproduced within FFF businesses. The results are further discussed in relation to owner types and possible impact on FFF restructuring and rural development.

家族経営を基礎とした政策理念と制度

This study aims to examine agricultural policy and the system by which family farms are supported in Switzerland. Agricultural policy in Switzerland has been developed with the thinking that traditional family farms need to be maintained. Current policy is grounded in article 104 of the federal constitution, revised in 1996, and made firm by some acts and ordinances that relate to direct payment, based on the article. The idea for this agricultural policy came from a 1984 white paper on agriculture; this idea has been embraced to date and embodied in the introduction of various new programs, including those that relate to direct payments, proof of ecological performance, and payments for animal welfare that is in line with taxpayers’ interests.

The evolution of farming networks in a fragile institutional environment: the case of Argentina

In Argentina, farming traditionally took place in small and medium-sized family farms, mostly by means of their own land, labour, capital (financial, machinery, etc.) and entrepreneurship. Farmers owned enough equipment to cope with all the activities required for the production cycle. This traditional family farm model is the dominant organisational form in agriculture in almost every country. However, the way of managing, contracting and organising agriculture in Argentina has changed since the 1990s as a result of several institutional innovations. Even though the 2002 economic crisis created a highly uncertain scenario, farm production continued to expand and new organisational forms appeared. Since 2007, institutional changes (more related to Government intervention) had a negative impact on production and organisational forms. These different periods and scenarios enable us to explore the dynamics and interrelationships of the different institutional, organisational and technological environments. The paper discusses organisational adaptation in the agriculture sector as a response to radical changes in the technological and institutional environments, in a context of increased international demand for agricultural commodities.

Implementing Sustainable Development for the Countryside: A Case Study of Agri-Environment Reform in Wales

The paper examines the potential implications of the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to restructure the funding of agri-environment schemes in Wales with the proposed introduction, from 1 January 2012, of the new All Wales Glastir Sustainable Land Management Scheme. The research on which this paper is based was initiated in January 2010. It involved a selection of farmers from one Welsh county, Montgomeryshire, being engaged, aimed at establishing how the change to Glastir will impact upon their farming businesses and practices and, ultimately, the achievement of a sustainable agricultural industry. Montgomeryshire, which is set in the heart of Wales, is typified by the traditional family farm, being an important structure for achieving sustainable agriculture. The research concludes with a stark warning that Glastir may not be ‘fit for purpose’ and that the Welsh Assembly Government should reconsider its decision.

Community and occupational health concerns in pork production: A review1

Public concerns relative to adverse consequences of large-scale livestock production have been increasingly voiced since the late 1960s. Numerous regional, national, and international conferences have been held on the subject since 1994. This paper provides a review of the literature on the community and occupational health concerns of large-scale livestock production with a focus on pork production. The industry has recognized the concerns of the public, and the national and state pork producer groups are including these issues as an important component of their research and policy priorities. One reason large-scale livestock production has raised concern is that a significant component of the industry has separated from traditional family farming and has developed like other industries in management, structure, and concentration. The magnitude of the problem cited by environmental groups has often been criticized by the pork production industry for lack of science-based evidence to document environmental concerns. In addition to general environmental concerns, occupational health of workers has become more relevant because many operations now are employing more than 10 employees, which brings many operations in the United States under the scrutiny of the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In this paper, the scientific literature is reviewed relative to the science basis of occupational and environmental impacts on community and worker health. Further, recommendations are made to help promote sustainability of the livestock industry within the context of maintaining good stewardship of our environmental and human capital.

Cross Boundary Farming: Can this Challenging Farming Method save the Australian Family Farm?

Recent environmental changes and trade liberalisation have significant implications for the way farming will be conducted in future. The number of farming families has decreased by 46% between 1971 and 2006 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Customised Data), therefore the re-evaluation of farming methods seems appropriate. Traditional family farming, co-operative and corporate farming, as well as cross-boundary farming is discussed. The latter is a form of collective farming: it means individual title, but collective ownership and management. These issues will be examined through a literature review and commentary. This system has worked well for many years in Europe (ABC Landline, 2001). In Australia, a group of academics and landholders worked this system successfully for six years; it was called common property resources system (Williamson, Brunckhorst & Kelly, 2003). It encouraged flexibility and shared labour, and there was economic, ecological and environmental success. Why was the system abandoned? Rural communities depend upon the sustainability of the surrounding land and farms, but the persisting drought and degradation of the land has led to a decline in the social and economic viability of life in rural areas. Sustainability requires a re-thinking of the landscape, which, in turn, requires a re-thinking of eco-ethical values and biodiversity, as well as having a holistic approach. Can cross-boundary farming be an approach to save the Australian family farm?

From Pioneering to Persevering: Family Farming in Indiana to 1880 (review)

Reviewed by: From Pioneering to Persevering: Family Farming in Indiana to 1880 Richard F. Nation From Pioneering to Persevering: Family Farming in Indiana to 1880. By Paul Salstrom. (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2007. Pp. xii, 208.) Paul Salstrom, a leading figure among Appalachian historians, turns his attention to Indiana agriculture in the nineteenth century, and his work offers a number of important insights and information. The question that drives From Pioneering to Persevering is "why family farming was so economically viable in early Indiana" (xii). Salstrom's answer is that Hoosier farmers captured a significant portion of the East Coast sale price of corn, the states' key commodity. Salstrom roots that success in the railroad's inability to establish monopolies in transportation, unlike further west. Salstrom further argues that it would not be until the invention of a mechanical harvester for corn that Hoosier family farms would be at risk and thus cease to persevere, dating that occurrence to the post-World War II period. The relationship between the earlier reason for perseverance and the final cause of decline is not self-evident and is never explored, because the book itself ends in 1880, at the peak of what Salstrom calls family-farm perseverance in Indiana. To pin that decline on the mechanical harvester glosses over the key role of New Deal agricultural policy in paving the way for the adoption of harvesters, as well as the impact of hybrid corn and the chemical revolution in agriculture in increasing yields in the post-World War II era. It also ignores the rise of a culture of consumption in the twentieth century, with its desire for larger marketable surpluses that may have driven the adoption of mechanical reapers, chemicals, and hybrids. Moreover, in 1880 Indiana agriculture was in the midst of change. By 1890, the Farmer's Mutual Benefit Association and other pre-Populist organizations would gain a foothold in Indiana (although the lack of a railroad monopoly would be one reason Populism never really takes off), following in the tracks of an even more widespread, albeit short-lived, success of the Grange in the 1870s. These movements underscore the fact that some Hoosiers believed the family farm was at risk. By 1880, widespread drainage of Indiana's wet prairies was underway, requiring serious capital investment that would make the traditional family farm less viable. Finally, good census figures on farm tenantry become available for 1880, and strong regional variation within the state for tenantry makes a simple formulation of the family farm suspect, although one of the strengths of the book is its recognition of such regional differences. Both of Salstrom's key arguments are based on the secondary literature and not on extensive research in the primary sources. Nearly a quarter [End Page 118] of the book is devoted to Native American and French agriculture, which provides a useful contrast to the Anglo-American family farm, but it is not worthy of the extensive attention. Thus, the book reads more like a synthesis than a monograph, even as it seeks to answer questions better suited for a monograph. At 126 pages of text, excluding notes, the book just seems too short to accomplish much. It does not provide a solid account for academic readers because it is not rooted in primary sources and fails to give a full accounting of the eventual decline of the family farm. For me and for other experts in Indiana agriculture, the time spent reading it is valuable, but for historians working on other states' agricultural pasts, the model produced is not fleshed out convincingly enough to demand their attention. For the reading public, the book will provide a decent overview of Indiana agriculture to 1880, but, with its tantalizing arguments about the later period, it will leave them wishing for more. Richard F. Nation Eastern Michigan University Copyright © 2008 West Virginia University Press

The global farmer: typology, institutions and organisation

The purpose of this paper is to study the phenomenon of 'global farmers' and how they are organised. The paper establishes a definition and a typology of global farming; sketches a theoretical framework based on property rights theory; and uses case studies to illustrate the theory and typologies. Global farmers are defined as farmers or farming enterprises that carry out activities in more than one country. Specific objectives of the present paper are first to define a typology of global farming, second to explore evidence of the existence of and incentives for global farming, third to propose a theoretical approach to examining the global farmer phenomenon, and fourth to discuss regularities in the governance and contractual choices made by farmers to coordinate their production. Global farms are found to have a variety of governance forms; they tend to not be operated as traditional family farms, but are more often incorporated or operated as formal partnership corporations. The farmers also form alliances and contractual arrangements with other farmers and agri-businesses in both the host country and their country of origin. The study is based on case studies developed in Latin America and Europe. The results of a questionnaire completed by four farmers reveal their reasons for choosing global farming, the specifi contract profile for farm resources and product marketing as well as the institution-related costs faced by farmers. Specific contracts for land, labor and farm inputs are compared in relation to the available services, credit, horizontal collaboration and product distribution.

Livestock production and quality of societies’ life in transition economies

Animals are beneficial to humans since they produce besides food, products for medical uses and energy. They are also used for transport, animal power, fertilizer, companion and sports. Intensification of animal agriculture has allowed reasonable economic growth in developing regions. This will continue more intensively with world globalization. As a consequence, traditional family farming is losing space to the enterprise organizations concerned with profit returns on investments. This circumstance together with the mechanization of agriculture is driving human populations to the cities and producing a trend to reduce growth on the rural areas of developing countries. Animal production will continue to increase both in volume and in productivity to meet the demand for high-value protein in these transition societies. However, official authorities of developing countries should consider the environmental problems and health issues raised by animal production in the most developed areas of the world. Improved livestock productivity to support economic development and sustainable resource management are not incompatible goals. Limits for the application of technologies should consider aspects of animal production in terms of food, animal welfare and protection of the environment.

Harvesting the high plains: John Kriss and the business of wheat farming, 1920-1950

The semiarid plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado are hardly the setting for an agricultural empire, but it was here that former field hand John Kriss managed G-K Farms for Wichita entrepreneur Ray Garvey. Their enterprise became one of the largest wheat operations on the plains and yielded Kriss a one million bushel crop. the High is the rags-to-riches story of how Kriss applied hard work and common sense to make large-scale farming work under the most adverse conditions. Drawing on correspondence between Kriss and Garvey, it tells how the two men had to make innumerable decisions about the purchase of expensive machinery and of ever larger tracts of land, and how Kriss kept detailed records of crops and rainfall to manage the land carefully, farming thousands of acres in an environmentally sensitive way and retaining a viable operation even during the Dust Bowl years. In chronicling the story of Kriss's success, historian Craig Miner provides a bold counterpoint to the argument that large, technology-based farming is inherently bad or that only small farmers can be conscientious stewards of the land. He sets his narrative in the context of local and agricultural history-as well as the Kriss family's own story-in order to document the transition to mechanized, specialized farming on the plains. He addresses philosophical and historical questions about the relation between agriculture and nature in a semiarid region, showing that G-K Farms managed to strike a remarkable balance between profit and ecology. He also suggests that G-K may even have done its region more economic good than small farms simply by staying in business during bad times. The Kriss family still works the land, and although their operation is huge, it still depends on traditional family farming values and approaches. Harvesting the High Plains provides keen insights into their special approach to large-scale farming and gives a human face to the faceless statistics of other agricultural studies.

Response: The Rights of Animals and Family Farmers

and a cultural heritage. He does not get what he had hoped for, namely, a categorical argument for saving the family farm. But this does not seem necessary anyway for reasons noted above. The question of what we ought to do as a nation seems to me to be more complex, however. Preservation of the traditional family farm and rural life will require the outlay of public funds; all are in agreement about that. Decisions about the rightness or wrongness of providing such funds must be made within the context of shrinking economic and natural resources and of other claims for the protection of many different kinds of interests. Some of these interests are based on the prior commitments of the government to serve the population in certain ways, and other interests take the form of claims concerning basic human rights. Family farmers must make their claims about justice within an ongoing social sphere that is populated, for instance, by the inner city poor and homeless, the increasing poverty of our children, high infant mortality, inequity in health care and education, and the continued mistreatment of animals and the environment. It may well be that we should save family farms, but there will be a price to pay in unmet needs of others. Thus, we must have a clearer understanding of the interrelationship of these interests and of how to give them just consideration. I think this precludes categorical conclusions about the fate of the family farm but leaves open the possibility for making good arguments about how our institutions should be arranged to protect the public interest and individual rights. Notwithstanding my reservations noted above, I recommend this book to those who are interested in exploring these issues in some depth. No text or anthology can encompass all views. Most of the essays are clear, well-written, and accessible to even the novice. I have no doubt that as a classroom text it will provoke a large amount of useful debate and enlightenment.

The U.S. farm crisis: Program responses and alternatives to them?the case of Michigan

The current crisis in U.S. agriculture has broadcast a rather simplex message. It is that the traditional family farm is in serious trouble. This message is apparent in the agricultural programs that have emerged in direct response to the farm crisis. Using Michigan's experience as illustration, these programs are shown to share similar objectives supported by a singular policy orientation. They utilize a ‘farm as firm’ model and treat the small farm operation as the unit of problem analysis and remedial action. They focus attention inward upon the ‘victim’ and attempt to change the victim's behavior through improved farm and farmer management.

The Changing American Farm

The American farm has never been as homoge neous or as stable as it appears in nostalgic recollection. Its historic emphasis on fee simple ownership by operating proprietors was nevertheless a marked departure from its feudal antecedent and remains relevant today. Farmers' desires for status and for managerial independence have not mitigated. They are subject to (1) changes, such as increase in size, that have no deep significance; and (2) other changes, such as increased dependence on nonfarm inputs, that bring more specialization of enterprise, including growing detach ment of livestock (and poultry) farming from crop farming, and that make farming more sensitive to the terms of relation ship with input-supplying as well as market industries. En croachment of those industries via vertical integration (ownership or contract) along with internal growth of some farms to larger than family size gradually shrink the domi nance of the traditional family farm. Even so, the most viable unit may be the part-time or retirement farm, which does not depend heavily on farm income. The ultimate question re lates to what national policy is to be. Past policy has been ambivalent, and no clear direction for the future is to be seen.