Ithaca, New York
September 24, 2003
The force of global economics is changing the
agricultural
landscape in
New York
state, the Northeast region and the United States. These changes
have created uncertainties for the American agricultural
economy, according to a white paper released Sept. 19 by
Cornell
University
agricultural scientists and economists.
"We are seeing
more and more large farms, and there are billions of dollars in
subsidies for large, commercial farms. If there were an economic
shake-up in agriculture and if the big farm holdings could not
sell their goods, the
United States
would become protectionist immediately," says Thomas Lyson,
Cornell's Liberty Hyde Bailey professor of development sociology
and one of the paper's authors. "I think it is very precarious."
The paper, "The
Future of American Agriculture and the Land Grant University:
Toward a Sustainable, Healthful and Entrepreneurial Food
System," results from a yearlong examination by the Cornell
group. It is available at <http://www.cals.cornell.edu/polson/faawhitepaper.pdf>.
The group
voices its belief that in the future agricultural entities in
the United States either will be high value or local niche
marketers, and few, if any, will be of medium size. "We are
heading toward a bimodal structure. Medium-size farms will
become fewer," says Brian Chabot, Cornell professor of ecology
and evolutionary biology.
As the economy
becomes more global, large farms in the United States either
will compete on price or produce crops for subsidized markets.
"Cost-reducing technologies will continue to be important, and
large farms increasingly will be integrated into transnational
food supply systems," says Chabot. "Low-cost providers will rule
the market, and that is an economic process that is hard to
counter."
In New York
state there were 15,000 dairy farms in the late 1980s, and today
only 7,200 remain. Even so, in terms of dairy production,
New York
ranks third behind California and Wisconsin. In 2001, the
state's dairy industry contributed $1.5 billion to New York's
economy, which was more than half of the state's agricultural
receipts, according to the New York State Department of
Agriculture and Markets. The department conducted a Dairy Farm
Transition Survey in February 2002 in which 48 percent of New
York's dairy producers said they planned to expand herds. About
45 percent of the dairies expected to maintain their current
operating scale.
To resolve some
of the economic problems in agriculture, Chabot suggests
refocusing efforts on commodities unique to a region, like wine,
dairy, maple syrup and certain apple varieties in New York.
Additionally, Chabot thinks there should be an educational
effort to reach the public to explain how world economics is
forcing food-system changes at home. "We should educate
consumers on how these changes affect them and start that
education here at Cornell with our own students," he says.
In fact, that
educational effort already is under way, and last spring a pilot
course, Integrating Food Systems and Human Nutrition Needs, was
taught by Jennifer Wilkins, Cornell senior extension associate
in nutritional sciences. The course examined the link between
human nutrition and systems of food production and distribution.
Student teams investigated new and existing technological
options within food systems that could be used to improve
domestic or international nutritional needs.
Are these
economic trends in agriculture good or bad for American farmers?
Says Chabot: "It's neither good nor bad; it's how the world
works."
In addition to
Chabot, Lyson and Wilkins, the other Cornell faculty presenting
the white paper were: Ronnie Coffman, director, International
Programs; Dan Decker, director, Agricultural Experiment Station,
Ithaca; Amy Guptill, development sociology; David Lee, applied
economics and management; Susan McCouch, plant breeding; Philip
McMichael, development sociology; Ian Merwin, horticulture;
David Pelletier, nutritional sciences; David Pimental, ecology
and evolutionary biology; Marvin Pritts, horticulture; Norman
Uphoff, Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture
and Development; Steven Wolf, natural resources; and Anna Zalik,
development sociology. The white paper was funded by Cornell's
Polson Institute for Global Development and the university's
College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences. |