This artcile highlights eight stories of successful small-scale farms that make an important impact on our world:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-nierenberg/family-farmers_b_4110458.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Food
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think this article only highlights the more positive aspect of small-scale farming? Do you believe that it is an accurate representation after what we have previously discussed in class?
2. What do you think could be done to make these success stories possible for more family farms?
Hi Courtenay, thanks for posting this article. I partly agree with you that this article highlights the positive aspect of the small-scale farming, but I think it's to be expected: 1. This is from Huffington Post, which tends to have liberal leans on many of the issues. 2. I think the article wanted to shine a light on a farming different from that of the large corporation style, so the writer may have focused on the positives to appeal to wider audiences. You bring up a good question about being more accessible to family farms, because I noticed that a lot (if not all) were located abroad. Can such technology systems be applied in the US? I'm actually quite curious as to why the success stories tended to be from lesser developed countries. Were this by chance that these were the ones the author researched? Or is there a slight connotation that while more developed countries can go about practicing larger corporation style farming? I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I do think the size could have played a role in having the small-scale farming being implemented in these lesser developed countries (more prone to changes), because it was probably easier to transform the system of farming there rather than in the US. All in all, in order for these success stories to be possible for more family farms, I think it would be helpful if the NGOs within the same region research this issue together and make it available to as many farmers as possible, so that it would cut down on redundancy and even trial and error period (from having to rely on different research put out by different NGOs).
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the article. I believe this article does indeed highlight the positives that can be seen with small-scale farming. These eight mini-stories are consistent with our discussions in class as they highlight the technological advances and social community movements aimed at improving sustainable practices and more equal treatment of all farmers alike. I believe that more help from these country's respective governments, other NGO's, and more aware farmers who want to see themselves and their fellow farmers succeed will all contribute to more success stories.
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