From: bobw@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Bob Wildfong)
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Organization: Computer Systems Group, University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 14:35:22 GMT

In <FKITTRED.92Sep10134034@spchp11.BBN.COM> fkittred@spchp11.BBN.COM (Fletcher Kittredge) writes:

>In article <BuD2LF.7s5@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> bobw@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Bob Wildfong) writes:
>>   100 years ago, most people had much more appreciation and respect for
>>
>>   I believe that it is very dangerous for our society to look at farming as
>
>I defend to the death your right to have such opinons, but *MY*
>opinion is that this is an example of muddy thinking.  Farming is just
>another business enterprise, abet one with political clout.  The
>economic laws of efficient producers hold as well as any other
>business, and we should buy our food from whomever is the best
>supplier.  Punishing consumers to support the livestyles of a few

I too, respect your right to disagree, but may I point out that the food
market is consumer-driven, and the vast majority of consumers do not
understand the issues involved in modern agriculture.

I'm talking about issues such as lack of genetic diversity in food crops
and livestock, a situation which is neither the fault of the breeders nor
the farmers, but which is quite frightening to both.

Do consumers understand the problems well enough to make educated decisions
when they buy groceries?

>By you line of reasoning, every country should maintain a complete and
>independent agricultural industry in order to protect their
>"civilization."  Therefore, the Japanese, Europeans, Russians, Arabs,
>Africans and Mexicans should ban imports of North American food

Sorry if my point was not clear.
I meant civilisation in a global context.  Agriculture is the oldest and
most characteristic quality of a "civilized" society.  My point was to
underscore its importance relative to all other businesses.
If you disagree on this point, please explain your reasoning.

Incidentally, crops bred for North American farms do _not_ necessarily
grow well in other parts of the world where growing conditions are different.
I am thinking specifically of Africa, where NA grains have shown a very poor
yield, contributing to massive starvation in certain areas.
Anyway, that wasn't my original point.

>As to your second point, the economy is so interdependent, if the a
>industry the size of the software industry went belly up, we would all
>be in big trouble.

Yes, at first.  We would have a major readjustment to make.  Some of us
might even lose our homes, cars, digital watches.  But there are other
jobs.  There are other markets.
No one is _physically_ dependent on software.

Now what if large-scale agribusiness just stopped dead?  (No more likely 
than the software industry shutting down, I admit.)
How long would it be before food shortages wreaked panic and devastation
through every city in the world?  What would we eat?
Sure, some people would come out of it 
in the end, and return to a small-scale agricultural society, but the 
overall effects would be rather profound.

>I applaud your choice to live on a farm.  Just don't expect us to pay
>for it!

In fact I don't live on a farm.
I do believe, however, that farmers have long been subsidizing the public in
terms of a lot of hard work in return for not much pay and a lot of prejudice.

Bob Wildfong                                       bobw@csg.uwaterloo.ca
Waterloo, Ontario                                  bobw@csg.waterloo.edu
#include <stddisclaimer.h>

Newsgroups: misc.rural