先生 Brad Wilson
Policy for global fair farm prices, through social movements such as food sovereignty.
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Policy for global fair farm prices, through social movements such as food sovereignty.
80% of the "undernourished" are rural, (as is 70% of LDC population,) from the rural half of the world, and in many places about half of them are farmers. So paying farmers fairly is a key to family farms, to support for all family members, and keeping them together as a family. What we've had instead are global farmers subsidizing everyone else.
In many places, cheap crop prices are also driving down livestock prices, (a huge part of global farm income, especially for the poor,) as livestock leave farms to giant animal factories, that are subsidized by farmers, (by cheap feed prices). So this hurts resource conserving crop rotations and contributes to climate change.
In these ways, global farmers are colonized by "megatechnic" (Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine,) agribusiness. Through cheap prices farmers are forced to subsidize the agribusinesses that exploit them. The corporate and political issues, where global farmers are exploited, must be considered as context for these women's issues. Unfortunately, most countries are weak in global agriculture, and can't have much impact on prices.
Free markets (neoliberalism) chronically fail for farm products, so that's the economic problem. It can be fixed politically with supply management and adequate ("living wage") minimum Price Floors, as has been advocated by the WTO Africa Group (https://zcomm.org/zblogs/wto-africa-group-with-nffc-not-ewg-by-brad-wilson/), La Via Campesina (https://zcomm.org/zblogs/via-campesina-with-nffc-support-for-fair-farm-p...), European leaders (https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/impact-of-gatt-on-world-hunger-by-mark-rit...) and in the US (as in the first two links in this sentence). In global supply management, supply reductions are needed, (even as reserve supplies are maintained, to be triggered by Price Ceilings). At the same time, many regions, such as Africa, need a larger share of global production, (greater yields and production). Fair prices can go a long way in making that happen. Fair trade agreements are also needed, not free trade, (as the latter is based upon the free markets that chronically fail for farmers).
Women's issues need to be brought together with these larger issues, this larger economic and political context. We see some of that with the women who have won the Food Sovereignty Prize (http://foodsovereigntyprize.org/fs-prize/). In the West, the women of #FarmJustice (https://zcomm.org/zblogs/the-women-of-farm-justice-forgotten-by-women-to...), including minority women, (https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/ensure-that-farmers-receive-a-fair-living-...) have been leaders in this.
US farm justice advocates like these women have played a "unique" role in this, because the US has had such a dominant share of major global exports. The US too has been colonized by global mega-agribusiness, and has chosen to lose money on farm exports for decades. Agribusiness lobbying led Congress to reduce (1953-1995) and eliminate (1996-2018) Price Floor programs. Previously, 1942-1952, corn prices averaged over $12/bushel, wheat over $16/bu, cotton over $2.50/lb, etc. In the 21st century, due to the policy changes, prices have been close to a third of that.
The US and Europe need fair prices, (with supply management fairly shared globally) to eliminate the need for any subsidies, as subsidies are unfair.
Changes need to be transitional, as it takes time for global rural economies to adjust to the greatly increased wealth of a fair standard. Global farmers need to be protected from land grabbing and other abuses in the process, especially women, as in the article. 60 years of cheap prices have created savage dilemmas that are very difficult to fix. It's like the refugee crisis from the Middle East. So much was done by Europe and the US to cause the problems over such a long period that it's tough to fix, as the problems explode in new ways.
Bottom line, Global rural women and their families deserve to be paid fairly. The problem of global corporate megamachines, of the colonization of global agriculture, must be addressed to achieve this.
先生 Brad Wilson
Here are some thoughts on the role of "farm wife" in comparison to "farmer," with regard to male and female roles on farms during my lifetime, (1950s to today,) here in Iowa USA. This was inspired by your discussion questions.
It's called: "Farmer Vs Farm Wife: Which is Most Highly Valued," but it addresses more than that: https://www.facebook.com/notes/brad-wilson/farmer-vs-farm-wife-which-is-most-highly-valued/1388893231148421/.