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From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Family Farms
Message-ID: <583@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 9-Apr-85 12:07:50 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxl.583
Posted: Tue Apr  9 12:07:50 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 14-Apr-85 20:45:49 EST
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>  Why is it, that until the days of FDR, this country managed  quite nicely
> without all those "great social programs", and now, in the thinking of
> so many people, we are doomed to be opressors, dictartors, or worse if
> we don't have them?   A case in point; the current farm crisis.  While
> there is no denying that the farmers in this country are in a major, and
> in some cases, life threatening bind, if the goverenment again comes to
> the rescue, the farmers will be just that much worse off in the long
> run. The farm industry in this country, like so many others, is
> changing, and some people had better damn well take their heads out of
> the sand, and look around, and either sell their land and get another
> sort of job, go back to school or somthing.  They may not like doing this,
> but nobody should expect a government hand-out just because conditions
> are changing.  In my opinion, the family farm is rapidly becoming a
> thing of the past, due primairly to automation.  
> 
>   Mike Stalnaker  UUCP:{decvax!grendel,cbosgd!seismo}!dolqci!mike
> 		  AT&T:202-376-2593
> 		  USPS:601 D. St. NW, Room 7122, Washington, DC, 20213

Actually according to reports on National Public Radio and the New York
Times large farms are *not* the most efficient in terms of productivity.
The most efficient farms in terms of productivity are the middle-sized
family farms that are among those most in trouble.  This should be
no surprise: we hear free-enterprise buffs tell us constantly about how
the 10% of Polish agriculture produces 50% of certain foodstuffs.
Large is not necessarily better: whether its capitalistic or socialistically
run enterprises.   The primary advantage to large farmers over medium sized
farmers is financial: they have more collateral for crop loans and to
weather bad financial times.  They are *not* more productive.
 
And what will happen to our system of agriculture if it becomes dominated
by a few oligopolistic producers able to restrict production and raise
prices? It would seem that supporting the free market means supporting
the number of small and *productive* producers that makes it work most
efficiently.
                  tim sevener   whuxl!orb