Question by SALAMANDER: what some negative impacts of business on agricultural production?
In the documentary, The Future of Food.
And were there any positive outcomes that came from larger crop yields?
Best answer:
Answer by SLA
I don’t understand your question. Agriculture is a business – it has to be in a capitalist system. Of course, our system is corrupted – subsidies instead of true food prices – but it’s still a business at the base.
That means it follows the peaks and valleys of production cycles (lots of corn, low price. Little corn, high price) so you could say that the need to survive financially drives a business to analyze the potential profit of any crop (beef to honey to wheat to broom corn to wool) and choose to produce it or not.
Larger crop yields mean more people can live in urban centers and never have to touch the reality of food production. The more food that can be produced from a single acre, the fewer people and less land mass that has to be dedicated to agriculture.
I guess that’s kind of one of those catch 22’s.
If more people were forced to be involved in raising food, we’d have a far more farmer friendly culture. However, it’s the sheer production volume of the modern American farmer that allows so many people to do the non-agrarian jobs they love and to live in cities and towns.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!