Persuasive Essay On Small Farming

The small farms of America are scrutinized every day for what they grow and raise. Most of the small farms around America go through more and more regulations because the big farming corporations are able to pay the government off so they can grow and raise there items their own way. When most people look at small farms they see organic and healthy; for big corporations, though, a lot see short cuts and GMO's. Peter Singer also calls large corporate farms "factory farms" because they just keep growing and never stop but in the eyes of many that's ok. Shouldn't a small farm should have a right to farm what they want also, because of the good they can do for their community. So Americans should start buying organic and local because it can grow

the local economy and also show corporate America consumers will not be bought that easily.
That's why Will Allen, the author of The Good Food Revolution and a well known revolutionary farmer, has started to show what a good small urban farm can do for a community. Most people don't see what he does as a life changing scenario, but he is taking something so run down and making it viable again. Just like major corporations, Allen also knows the ways of big corporate America so he handles it very well.
Allen understand how the food game is able to change and how the prices will change with it. He states that, "when prices rise for wheat, corn, and oil, for instance, the urban poor are often unable to afford the higher costs (101)" which makes it harder for the farmers to make there money. What Allen is saying is that if we can occupy land in the urban areas we will become self sufficient. The USDA, however , dos try to make it fair to everyone that try to run and control their own farm. According to the USDA, " Owning and operating a small farm represents an avenue to economic independence and entrepreneurial achievement for many Americans from all walks of life" (Harvard Law) which shows they do want people to succeed by owning their own farm. But on the other hand, "Small farmers argue that they are already much more accountable to their customers for the quality of their product than are mass-production facilities, and that they will be crushed under the weight of well-meaning laws aimed at large industrial offenders (Luntz)." So why is it that the government is only appealing to larger companies rather than the small ones if they say that they are just as important? That is why in the stories "Radical Farmers Use Fresh Food to Fight Racial Injustice and the New Jim Crow" and "Civil Rights Concerns Headline Latino Farm, Ranch Gathering" the stories show how racially diverse farming can be, but for most Latino and Black farmers they are disrespected for what they are trying to do. Back in 1980 George Norman and other fellow African American farmers filed a discrimination report against FmHa in Gates County, North Carolina about how they were wrongfully accused of receiving extra money before they were allowed to ( Allen 102). Now the USDA is investigating these claims since many black farmers were foreclosed on illegally (102-103).
Why is it that so much money is given to farmers who are white? Many Hispanics and Blacks are not given as much money for reasons not given. Now "in 1984 and 1985, the [USDA] lent 1.3 billion dollars to farmers in order to buy land. Sixteen thousand farmers received these loans. Only 209 of them were Black" (Allen 203). Even though we all live in America and are supposed to be treated equally like stated in the Constitution, why must people be given different advantages if they all need the money? So what needs to be taken a look at is the way the USDA categorizes the wealth of some people over others. If you look at these farms they all have one purpose, to produce food for the community. For instance, if you compare "Will's Farm" and a major farming corporation you will see many differences in money income: but why is it though that larger companies are allowed the bigger loan?
Take a look at a man name Mas Maumoto who tells the story of why people farm organically and make agriculture part of the world of ethics.

Maumoto says, " this is not just a farm, it's about farming organically and facing the challenges and labors when working with nature. This is not a factory in the fields, but something alive and dynamic: taste the salt of sweat and the geography of dust; witness the power of hail storm devastate democratically; sigh with the depression of low market prices and the rot of unharvested crops --- the real flavors of a farm" ( Xiii). His quote is really powerful here showing that he cares about what he does and is not trying to just to sell his fruit for a profit but for joy. That is why ethics is such an important role in agriculture because ethics makes you care for the stuff around you, and big corporations don't care about you, but others do. That is why this book has so many ethical values along with the other stories because they want to show you to value the life that you have and live with happiness with what you do. Which is why society is just like a farm it can grow and prosper, but also be taken down in an instant. So if both are the same, then farming and society should be treated the same with respect, but also the truth because that's what ethics is trying to teach us the truth on how to

live.