There is a good George Monbiot article here. He is suggesting that small farms are much more productive than large farms. Hmmm. Read on if this tickles your pickle or skip it if you prefer the fluffy nonsense that I've been writing lately.
I have read the same point about small production units in agricultural economic papers published before WWII. There are inefficiencies on large extensively farms and there is no question that high labour and management input is one way to ensure maximum yield.
I guess that the article highlights the gulf in practices between farming in the Western world and those in the "hungry zones" of the world. Monbiot is writing with global food production in mind.
My field of interest at the moment is fairly provincial although I hope it won't always need to be. The UK is an urban population. Feeding the sixty+ million people requires some sort of centralisation. We have a very effective (and constantly improving) network to do this. It is energy hungry and vulnerable, I admit, but it has been highly effective both for my generation and the one before. While it lasts, it relies on the cheapest supply regardless of where it comes from.
In the Western World we have mechanised our production to meet the demands of this system. The high cost of employing people in the UK prohibits very intensive production. Very few people in the UK genuinely wish to live in the countryside let alone work on a farm. This is why we employ machinery. While people wish to live in cities and devote their time to energy-hungry leisure activities, I can't see how we can have a different mainstream production system to the current one. I do not see how intensive local supply can ever compete on price with centralised distribution unless oil reaches $500 dollars per barrel and people start leaving cities in search of food.
I agree with Monbiot in principal, I'm not sure what I can do about it. I am very keen to act in accordance with my beliefs rather than wear idealistic theories like a badge. I can see no alternative but to pursue scale and technical efficiency in my own business.
So how long can we operate a different system to the rest of the world? Good question. Gordon Brown believes that we can do it by purchasing the surplus from other countries. But how much longer will be richer than them? I have no doubt that on our current course, Western civilisation will one day collapse and more sustainable systems of living will emerge.
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