Lecture 19: The Efficiency Dilemma

what are the strengths of the efficiency argument as a solution to feed 9 billion people?

resource use can be made more efficient, reducing the burden on the environment

what is the efficiency argument?

posits that improving resource use and agricultural processes can maximize food production while minimizing environmental impacts, thus supporting the needs of a growing global population.

what are the weaknesses of the efficiency argument as a solution to feed 9 billion people?

too simplistic; efficiency has downsides that are more consequential than people realize

despite years of rapid increaes in food production, what is the reality of undernourishment around the world?

the only part of the world that has seen a substantial decrease in chronically undernourished people is East Asia

most places have remained the same

we have lots of food, but it isn’t reaching people

what do Steinfeld and Gerber argue about livestock production?

livestock production is environmentally burdensome

we can either reduce the consumption of meats or produce meat protein more efficiently

based GHG efficiency of bovine meat production on kg of output, what are the disparities we observe globally?

there is a 40-50 fold disparity between sub-saharan Africa and India and the rest of the world

what is Smil’s solution?

improving the efficiency of agricultural production through modern IT

using precision farming→ every part of the field is monitored and utilized

what is Smil’s claim?

there is no biophysical reason why we could not feed humanity in the coming decades

biophysical

the seeds, tech, and amount of land we have

what does Smil say needs to change?

economic, political, and social transformation

(ex: changes in consumer expectations, regulation of farming production, subsidizing tech for small farms, reduction of global inequality)

the real obstacles are social but Smil does not focus on this in his book

farms with less than 5 hectares produce ___ % of the world’s food

41

farms with greater than 100 hectares produce __ % of the world’s food

35

the world’s food is still grown by _____ farmers

small

vernacular food systems

the majority of farmers are neither “industrial” nor “traditional”- they are in between, with features of both

why is calling farmers “alternative” misleading?

farmers employ whatever they can from the industrial tool kit

they are not trying to be vanguards of alternative agriculture but rather meet their specific needs and contexts

the farmers on larger farms are more _______, why?

efficient; because they produce more on less land

what do Mazoyer and Roudart mean when they talk about inequality?

unequally productive agricultures

unequal access to technologies has led to a gap of 2000 fold

modern farmer in Iowa can produce 2000x as much food as a worker that does not have the same tools (technologies are unequal in access)

what is the kind of efficiency that has become hegemonic?

labor productivity and yield

what produces the hegemonic efficiency?

motorization and mechanization

chemicalization: synthetic fertilizer and pesticides

high yield species of plants and animals

concentrated feed for livestock

connected to/by modern transportaion systems

dependent on fossil fuels for inputs

what is the issue with achieving the hegemonic efficiency?

the inputs are incredibly costly and out of reach for the great majority of peasants in the developing world

what drives the efficiency inequality among farmers?

only the developed world’s farmers (the rich farmers) practice high-yield agriculture

less than 10% of the world’s farmers overall practice high-yield agriculture

1/3 of all farmers have non of the modern tools

nearly __% of all farms in the US are small scale farms and produce__ % of our food by sales

90, 22

3.6% of farms produce ~__% of our food by sale

50

true or false: small farms are profit making

false

__ of US landholders control more than 4/5ths of all irrigated land

1/5

what is the result of unequal efficiency? why?

rural poverty; efficiency gains in agriculture exceed efficiency gains in the rest of the economy resulting in low prices for farmers

why was the the 19th century in the US a seeming miracle?

agricultural prices went down but farmers got more wealthy because efficiency gains in other parts of the economy were faster than in the agricultural sector

what does the developing world look like in terms of inequality compared to the US?

developing world is even more unequal

a few modern farms have all the modern means, plus very cheap labor

__% of developed world farmers have disappeared

90

what is the reality of small farms in high income countries?

there are a lot of small farms but they control very little land

the world’s hungry people are ___ people; __% are peasants and their communities,__% are displaced rural residents

rural; 75, 25

the reason for hunger among rural farmers is not because of old fashion farming but because of

competition and a lack of being able to keep up with more industrial, large scale farmers

what is the circular argument about poor farmers that Mazoyer and Roudart present?

farmers are hungry because they are poor, not because there isn’t enough food, and they are poor due to falling agricultural prices

______ is the root of the hunger problem, not the solution

efficiency

why are rural farmers’ prices so low?

they are being outcompeted by farms that have the capital to have low per unit costs

why does efficiency cause the hunger problem?

food is so unequally distributed, and farmers cannot afford the inputs that enable them to compete

what are Mazoyer and Roudart’s view on the Green Revolution

the Green Revolution will only make things worse because food will be provided at ever-lower prices, starving the rural population

Jevons paradox

the more efficiency in energy use leads to increased consumption (due to cheapness of energy) instead of decreased overall demand, exacerbating resource depletion

what does the rising organic composition of capital do to labor?

displaces labor because technologies allow you to produce the same amount or more with fewer workers

farmers have a constant need to drive wages down, why?

to remain competitive and maintain profit margins in an environment of low food prices

what does efficiency do to labor?

presupposes and reinforces the exploitation of labor

_____ _______ is the largest source of jobs in the US

food system

___% of workers earn low-to-poverty level wages

86

workers in the food system are among the most food ______ people in the US

insecure

Mann-Dickinson thesis in relation to agriculture

production time is often much greater than labor time; a capitalist farmer needs workers at key moments but for much of the year labor isn’t needed (there is a small window when laborers can have more influence like during harvest time)

labor time

the amount of actual human labor required to produce something

production time

the overall length of time between initiating and completing production

what is the implication of a farm being considered a small farm?

if a farm can find 3 months wihtout 500 man days they can be categorized as a small farm

this means all workers on the farm are exempt from minimum wage

agriculture is often exlucded from what kind of laws?

minimum wage labor laws and regulations

the Bracero Program

formal institutionalized legal system that provided a constant supply of poor Mexican workers

what is the vicious cycle of wages and prices?

low wages allow for cheaper food

“free” trade lowers prices for farmers overseas

declining prices lead to poverty which leads to increased migration

migration undermines wages for farm workers in the US

what are the kinds of efficiency?

ecological efficiency: greater food output per unit of inputs and waste

economic efficiency: greater ouput per unit cost

if ecological and economic efficiency align, what is it often at the expense of?

labor/jobs/farmer livelihoods

why is there almost always a problem of Jevon’s paradox?

greater efficiency leads to increased aggregate resource use

what is a way of meeting the variability in the biophysical and socioeconomic landscape without undermining the economic viability of agriculture?

paying attention to local conditions and intensify labor to match the situation of local conditions