3 Elements Of Smallholder Agriculture

Modern day farming has transformed from the farming process of last century. Instead of farmers producing for their families, farmers are now similar to input/output managers supplying massive manufacturers that feed the country.

Times have changed, and so has the family, the community and our environment. And these changes have impacted our lives and earth immeasurably. This is where the factor greed comes in to play, the need for more. This need for more called for extensive measures, measures like fertilizers, pesticides and equipment to work the ground and harvest the crops became necessity. Agriculture became a booming business that did not and still does not promote the well-being of the employee nor the individual let alone the family unit and community. Since 1950 an average farm size has doubled, but the number of laborers decreased substantially and the number of small local farmers has been cut in half. Farmers have been forced to become more efficient and there 's been a reliance on greater chemicals and technology, which has become very extensive and expensive. Sadly, what has been short term expansion has become a long-term threat (Trautmann, 2012). This greed driven increase has led to subtle damaging ramifications that most people are ignorant to. Their needs are being met as quality is being forsaken. Our environment is being squandered. Selfishness abounds.

compared to that from larger farms. Small farmers focus their farming techniques on being sustainable, which includes reducing the use of

Despite having little rights, hardworking women and children were often the key to success for independent farms. For these small, family-run farms, the children were often the ones who helped work and manage the land. Women were often the backbone of a household, doing the housework, weaving, cooking, and raising large amounts of children. Women were practically required to bear many children over a lifetime in order to staff the farm to maintain the family’s livelihood.

From 1880-1906, western farmers were affected by multiple issues that they saw as threats to their way of life. The main threats to the farmers were railroads, trusts, and the government, because these institutions all had the power to drastically affect the ability of the farmers to make profits. Therefore, the farmers were not wrong to feel frustration toward those institutions when the institutions caused the farmers to live lives of increasingly extreme poverty.

Attention Getter: Picture it if you will a world where we rely on a minute percentage of the population to feed our country. Imagine the struggle they may have to produce food for a country as large as ours. Then imagine what could happen if people didn’t enter this industry and the majority of the workers were past the common held age of retirement. This picture is of current production agriculture and this world is the one we all live in today.

Production-based farming has provided small communities a new effective way of farming; however, this type of farming has created more issues than solutions. In "Renewing Husbandry," Wendell Berry discusses the way communities have lost the practice of husbandry in farming to production-based farming. Also, he depicts the side effects production-based farming has on the small communities by demonstrating the loss of connection the farmers now have with the land and community they provide for. Production-based farming destroys the unity of small communities.

A discourse community follows Swales’ six characteristics: members share common goals, has a form of communication, a form of feedback, genres, a specific lexis, and has a level of expertise all within the group (Swales 25). I believe the Future Farmers of America is a great candidate for this topic for that it falls in to the categories listed by Swales. The start of Future Farmers of America came in 1900s in the state of Virginia. Adolescent to teenage males were not interested in farming and did not want to take over the family farms. This led to a homegrown farmer becoming the supervisor of Agriculture Education and set out to fix this problem, Walter Newman. With the help of Edmund C, Magill, Harry W. Sanders and the most influential Henry

The rising costs of land and the simultaneous costs of water make it so 30% of farm households have negative income. The cost of sustainability, such a new tilling methods and access to water, also strains farms. This often leads to farmers self-exploiting themselves to try to generate the most crops possible and cultivate their land to the fullest extent.

From A.J Cotton’s practice, breaking extra land for cultivation provided for maximum crop output during harvesting, and the proper utilization of farming costs. But for expansion to be realized, the farmer would require extra credit, which meant being indebted at high interest rates. The extra land also increased costs of farming such as additional hired hands for plowing, threshing and harvesting the crop. Furthermore, maintenance of farm implements and equipments could prove disastrous to a new farmer especially if it had to be done during the first few years of the venture. The example of Mr. and Mrs. John Hilsop depicting their experience of farming in Canada explains in detail just how hard it was to raise capital for farming. Only with the assistance of A J. Cotton did they realize growth and prosperity.

The Labor Unions protect their workers in many different ways people do not know. The Unions make it possible for their members to receive adequate pay better benefits, have left of absences, and have vacation time when you ask and not take the punishment for it. Once you are in the union books it is hard to be fired from it. There is a downside of it, you can be laid off which is not being fired.

producers as well as the fact that individual farmers are simply too insignificant to affect an

The Farmers 6000 (also known as F6) is a robot build to farm goods and plant trees on a spaceship. The F6 will help develop a healthy environment, and provide fresh fruits and vegetables. The F6 will cover all jobs a regular farmer has, from seeding a plant, to fixing a plant. The F6 is also very friendly with humans, and enjoys the pleasure of making people happy.

      Due to the effects of urbanization and industry, the amount of land available for agriculture is rapidly reducing. Of the total land area of 792,607 hectares for Negros Occidental (the Philippines) the Alienable and Disposable (A & D) areas covers 68.17 percent 0r 540,350.13 hectares. Classified Forest Land occupies 31.83 percent ( 252,256.53 hectares). Cropland makes up most of which is considered Alienable and Disposable. This includes the residential, commercial and institutional areas as well as agricultural lands. Fish ponds are also found in this area occupying an area of 9,333.14 hectares. Zoning and land use plans have been put into place to regulate the development of communities ensuring that the distribution of land is properly allocated so that it is not in incompatible use. Despite these measures, many farmers are very poor. The average size of an individual farm in the Philippines is 1.5. hectares. Small farms can only produce enough for subsistence purposes.

Agriculture in the United States has changed dramatically over the centuries. Since the 1960’s large commercial farms have been leading in sales. As a direct result of their success we, as a society, have access to affordable food. However, the success of large farms has lead to many negative impacts such as increased usage of resources and decreased diversity in crop fields. This begs the question, what can be done to reduce the negative impacts of large farms. One solution growing in popularity is sustainable agriculture. The idea of sustainable agriculture is to create farms that need little to no outside help from irrigation, pesticides, or fertilizers. Sustainability can be achieved in many way through