Rural-Urban divide is a universal phenomenon and it is recognized that those living in cities and towns in any part of the world receive more attention from the ruling class. The wide disparity in living standards between the populations in urban and rural areas is also some thing that is a societal fault line which cries for reddressal without much delay. While in India 70% of the population live in the country side under poverty, underdeveloped infrastructure like roads, power and water supply, their urban cousins have a comparatively higher disposable income that can fetch for them many luxuries besides a decent living style. In contrast in countries like the US there are many rural farms cultivating thousands of hectares of land, getting huge government subsidies, enjoying life styles comparable to or better than average urban families. In this euphoria, there is a forgotten entity of family farmers who are slowly disappearing against the might of large scale farms which dominate the landscape. What are the consequences of such a transformation? Here is a take on this issue through the lens of a small American farmer.
"In the past 30 years, since Ronald Reagan took office, the U.S. government has stopped enforcing antitrust laws, while recklessly encouraging an orgy of corporate mergers. During this time, food and agriculture production has become one of the most concentrated sectors in the U.S. economy. General economic theory states that when 4 or less companies control more than 40% of market share that industry is no longer competitive, competitiveness being the lifeblood of capitalism, innovation and democracies. Today just 4 companies control 84% of the beef packing industry, 66% of the pork packing industry and just one company, Monsanto, controls genetically engineered seeds for corn, cotton, soybeans and canola on more than 90% of the acres that are planted with GMO seeds. Such excessive market concentration has given corporations an increased stranglehold on supply, shrinking both profits and markets for family farmers. Since 1952 farmers have seen their share of the food dollar that they receive shrink from 47¢ on every dollar spent on food to barely 20¢".
Are the big fishes holding the American citizens to ransom by concentrating the food production power in their hands? What is the government doing to reverse such a trend? If the political clout enjoyed by these giant monoliths is any indication there does not appear to be any possibility of salvation for the citizens in this country and added to this the drastic reduction in the budget of the food safety guardian agencies by the partisan political dispensation may increase the consumer woes in the coming years. Looking at the situation in India, the scenario provides a sharp contrast and the small family farms, if they can be called so, are too small to be viable and land consolidation into viable farm size is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. Whether the revised FDI policy allowing global retailers into the retail sector which may develop backward linkage with farming, will change the rural landscape is uncertain as of now. Probably rural farms in India can find salvation only if the concept of cooperative farming is introduced in the country, a shining example being the successful cooperative maize farming in Karnataka run by Tibetan immigrants.
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