Pluriactivity and The Changing Image of the Family Farm
The past century of farming and agriculture production has survived countless economical hardships. By adapting and innovating the age-old process; farmers have created a new image of what the modern family farmer is capable of achieving while maintaining financial freedoms that are similar to larger industrial farms. This paper will elaborate on the factors that have forced the image of family farms to change over the years, as well as, the positive and negative effects that capitalism has had on the industry as a whole. Moreover, it will discuss the term pluriactivity and diversification in the agriculture industry and how factors such as: gender equality and the major role women played …show more content…
The reformation of the farming industry has created many long term and short-term effects for the general farming population. The necessity for profit maximization by large multi-million dollar corporations has forced smaller farms to compete with the seemingly impossible production numbers of large “industrial farms”, which Brookfield describes as farms that are dependent on wage workers in a capitalist developed country (Brookfield, 2008). However, this impossible task is slowly changing in a way that has shown to be beneficial for smaller family run farms. Historically the 19th century brought about major changes among many rural workers, such as farmers, that generally relied on agricultural means of production for their financial gain. However, the onset of the industrial revolution resulted in the mass production of goods at extraordinary rates, …show more content…
However, we live in a society that recently been exposed, through media outlets, about all the potentially harmful chemicals used in or on foods, and this has caused many problems for the larger commercial and industrial farms. But in the case of the smaller family and specialty farms, this new commodity for organic and specialty food has become very beneficial. In a sense this changing public opinion on food safety and healthy living is a form of modern pluriactivity within the farming industry. Family farmers that began to rely more and more on non-agriculture activities for financial compensation, was seen as a part time farmer and “on the way out of agriculture” (Brookfield, 2008). However, smaller less extensive specialty farms have made it readily available for famers to have either their wife, husband, or themselves work in non-agricultural positions while still maintaining a farm. This is evident through the rise of organic farming within the US, for instance, the total number of acres of organic farming is up by 1 million acres since 1990 (Cohn, & Wheeler, 2015). Smaller farming establishments, such as, family farms can benefit from such an increase in organic and specialty sales, whereas, larger commercial farmers may have difficult and expensive procedures, or not see
The past century of farming and agriculture production has survived countless economical hardships. By adapting and innovating the age-old process; farmers have created a new image of what the modern family farmer is capable of achieving while maintaining financial freedoms that are similar to larger industrial farms. This paper will elaborate on the factors that have forced the image of family farms to change over the years, as well as, the positive and negative effects that capitalism has had on the industry as a whole. Moreover, it will discuss the term pluriactivity and diversification in the agriculture industry and how factors such as: gender equality and the major role women played …show more content…
The reformation of the farming industry has created many long term and short-term effects for the general farming population. The necessity for profit maximization by large multi-million dollar corporations has forced smaller farms to compete with the seemingly impossible production numbers of large “industrial farms”, which Brookfield describes as farms that are dependent on wage workers in a capitalist developed country (Brookfield, 2008). However, this impossible task is slowly changing in a way that has shown to be beneficial for smaller family run farms. Historically the 19th century brought about major changes among many rural workers, such as farmers, that generally relied on agricultural means of production for their financial gain. However, the onset of the industrial revolution resulted in the mass production of goods at extraordinary rates, …show more content…
However, we live in a society that recently been exposed, through media outlets, about all the potentially harmful chemicals used in or on foods, and this has caused many problems for the larger commercial and industrial farms. But in the case of the smaller family and specialty farms, this new commodity for organic and specialty food has become very beneficial. In a sense this changing public opinion on food safety and healthy living is a form of modern pluriactivity within the farming industry. Family farmers that began to rely more and more on non-agriculture activities for financial compensation, was seen as a part time farmer and “on the way out of agriculture” (Brookfield, 2008). However, smaller less extensive specialty farms have made it readily available for famers to have either their wife, husband, or themselves work in non-agricultural positions while still maintaining a farm. This is evident through the rise of organic farming within the US, for instance, the total number of acres of organic farming is up by 1 million acres since 1990 (Cohn, & Wheeler, 2015). Smaller farming establishments, such as, family farms can benefit from such an increase in organic and specialty sales, whereas, larger commercial farmers may have difficult and expensive procedures, or not see