As spoken by a preeminent American food writer, M.F.K. Fisher, “first we eat, then we do everything else.” Food is a basic necessity, that is demanded constantly around the globe, however its problems are often overlooked and reside behind a veil of industry. Through an analysis, of both industrial and small-scale agriculture, these two strategies of organization can be further examined; to evaluate the potential benefits and possible market failures from each of these different market strategies. As market structure continues to shift, with changing consumer preferences, I believe small-scale agriculture can benefit from implementing a mixed organization structure at the local level. Small-scale operations are inherently better suited to adapt
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In an industrial world nobody wants to tailor tractor development or other equipment for processing to the small-scale farmer. This means it is more expensive, as well as timely, to gather and process food for market. On the other hand industrial agriculture can take advantage of both economies of scale and vertical integration; lowering cost per unit of output at all levels of supply (Carvalho, Marques). They can do so by using massive tractors that are both automated and precise. This creates a market where industrialized food wins out over consumer preferences because one of the most significant factors on demand is price. So there is a pricing issue, which can be solved to shift demand out for small-scale output. This can be done through equipment sharing cooperations between small farms as well as collective research and development of new technologies that aid in small farm production efficiency. In Russia they they shifted from an industrial design to smaller grouped farms and one market outcome was a lag period of inefficiency due to lack of proper equipment availability (Sabates-Wheeler). From Russia we can learn that more equipment sharing cooperation will allow for quicker gains from efficiency because without the right tool every job is more difficult and
In an industrial world nobody wants to tailor tractor development or other equipment for processing to the small-scale farmer. This means it is more expensive, as well as timely, to gather and process food for market. On the other hand industrial agriculture can take advantage of both economies of scale and vertical integration; lowering cost per unit of output at all levels of supply (Carvalho, Marques). They can do so by using massive tractors that are both automated and precise. This creates a market where industrialized food wins out over consumer preferences because one of the most significant factors on demand is price. So there is a pricing issue, which can be solved to shift demand out for small-scale output. This can be done through equipment sharing cooperations between small farms as well as collective research and development of new technologies that aid in small farm production efficiency. In Russia they they shifted from an industrial design to smaller grouped farms and one market outcome was a lag period of inefficiency due to lack of proper equipment availability (Sabates-Wheeler). From Russia we can learn that more equipment sharing cooperation will allow for quicker gains from efficiency because without the right tool every job is more difficult and