The Persistence of Family Farming in the Wake of Agribusiness: A New Brunswick, Canada Case Study*

INTRODUCTIONThe Green Revolution foresaw agriculture industrialising to the point where small-scale, technologically "antiquated" farms dependent on family labour would completely disappear. Modern industrial farming would follow the path of all businesses-it would rely on leading edge technology, farm size would grow, hired labour would replace family labour, and specialisation would lead to the most cost-efficient operations. The small farms dotting the rural countryside would become a distant memory. In their place, a few highly efficient large farms would produce the world's foodstuffs.A superficial look at the evidence seems to confirm that expectation. Post World War II, agriculture has steadily declined as an occupation in Canada. Today, 3% of rural Canadians live and work on farms while another 20% continue to live in rural areas (Dasgupta, 2001). While many rural people work in other rural occupations like forestry, fishing, mining and related industries or in traditional and non-traditional rural service sector jobs (such as country stores, banks, schools, hospitals and more recently ecotourism and home based businesses), the vast majority of rural New Brunswickers, and Canadians, commute to more urban areas for work. Those not engaged in rural sector jobs choose rural communities for their place of residence because they offer a pristine, safe, quiet, natural environment they can escape to after their day in the polluted, crime ridden, noisy, concrete city (Valentine, 1997). Interestingly, with the exception of western Canada, the rural non-farm population is on the rise across Canada (Dasgupta, 2001), testimony to the desire to escape urban pressures. On weekends and summer holidays, rural suburbia is often joined by other city dwellers seeking escape and leisure in a natural setting. These pursuits are supported by provincial tourism industries that heavily promote hiking trails, cottage rentals, and day long and weekly adventures that all give an important economic boost to small towns and rural communities.Competing visions of rural life and subsequent land use questions are especially prevalent in New Brunswick where the research for this article was conducted.1 In this Atlantic Canadian province, 50% of the population, more than double the Canadian average, continues to live in rural areas. However, as elsewhere, slightly less than 3% percent of the rural population actually farm (Statistics Canada, 1997). As elsewhere, the greatest exodus from farming occurred after the Second World War, mainly due to low farm incomes. But unlike central and western Canada, this region continued to be heavily dependent on resource based industries like farming, fishing, and forestry. This area did not urbanise or industrialise at the rate of other areas and as a consequence of supplying inputs to industry rather than having manufacturing jobs, New Brunswick incomes remain low compared to the rest of Canada.Despite its decline, agriculture continues to contribute a significant amount to the New Brunswick economy. In 1996, the province estimated farms contributed $155 million and agrifood contributed $370 million to provincial GDP (New Brunswick, 2001). Across Canada, each region is known for its particular agricultural commodities. In New Brunswick, potatoes accounted for 23% of all farm cash income, while dairy accounted for 21%, poultry and eggs for 19%, with other commodities accounting for less than 10% each (New Brunswick, 1996). A relative few large farms are responsible for most agricultural production, but small farms persist and continue to play a major role in the social fabric of rural communities. This article explores how and why small (subsistence, hobby, and small scale commercial) farms have persisted in the face of agribusiness and the pressure to "get big or get out" of farming (New Brunswick, 1974). In this article it is argued that these are the farms that have essentially maintained the vistas and agricultural infrastructure of rural New Brunswick. …