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Change in American agriculture
The shift in agriculture
Change in American agriculture
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From the beginning, American dairy farming been ever changing, from the beginnings where cows were milked by hand and the milk was transported by buckets to now where machines and mechanization has taken over. Since 1997 the total number of farms in America has decreased, including the traditional family farm. In “Restructuring America’s Dairy Farms” by John A. Cross he states Traditional dairy farms have between 20-49 cows, dropped significantly by 33.7 percent although this number has dropped small family farms still have 28.9 percent of the countries dairy cows. On the other hand, large scale operations which have 500 or more dairy cows have 41 percent of the country’s dairy cows. ] With Americas thirst for milk ever increasing with the growing population, farms are having to continue to evolve and expand or sell out.
According to the USDA between the years 2000 and 2006 large scale farms increased by 104 percent. These large scale farms are more specialized than ever before. On a traditional dairy farm the cows spend most of their time in their assigned stanchion. This is where the farmer handles the cows and all the production happens. The famer is also the one who deals with all the daily activities and chores around the farm while also dealing with managerial duties. Along with this the farmer has to find time to cut and process the feed for his cows. A large scale or industrial farms are completely different.
A large scale farm is run like a business or a factory majority of the effort is put to there is a separation in the workers and the management of the farm. There are managers that oversee the operations of the farm and delegates the chores to the workers. The workers unlike a traditional farm where they are fam...
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...h are not up to specifications set by the factories and cheese producers. In most small traditional farms the milk is stored in a system that keeps the milk fresh. The Amish do not have this type of system on their family farms. The Amish have now adapted, they have banded together and have their own factories as the non-Amish factories will not take their milk as it is not up to specifications.
This is where the future of farming is headed as the small dairy farm begins to go away and the industrial or large scale farm begins to take over as it adapts better than the small farmers. As the demand for milk rises it will be harder and harder for the small traditional farms to compete with old inefficient outdated farming practices. This is where the adaptation begins to come in farmers are either going to have to expand and adapt or sell out to the Large scale farmers
Hatcher Family Dairy was established in 1831 and the Hatcher’s have been milking cows ever since. Throughout most of Hatcher Family Dairy’s history, milk produced on the farm was sold to a milk cooperative owned by farmers. The milk cooperative would transport the Hatcher’s raw milk from the farm to a processing plant where it was processed along with milk from other farms. Ultimately, all the milk processed by the milk cooperative comingled and was sold under various brand names to groceries stores.
The farm uses a cycle of animals, which include cows, chickens, turkeys, bunnies, and pigs, in order to keep the land fertile which allows for little use of external human made input. Polyface farm also takes hours of work everyday to upkeep unlike factory farms where it’s mostly automated. The farm also makes use of forested areas and other non-farmed resources, which forces them to protect that land from being cut down to receive those benefits. However, organic farming’s limiting factor is human population growth and the resources needed by the growing population.
The idea of the family farm has been destroyed by large food corporations. As discussed in class, industrial farming typically leads to the mass produ...
...s changed. They still believe the same things and practice the same values that they always have. They also have continued to keep away from modern things so that they can stay true to their old beliefs. Farming is still the main job of the Amish and they still farm the old way that their great-great grandfathers farmed. A step into most Amish districts is like taking a step back in time by 200 years. Things may have not changed for the Amish but that has not been a bad thing for them.
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
Factory farming is a system of livestock that uses intensive methods by which livestock are contained indoors under strictly controlled conditions. In the article, “Factory Farms in a Consumer Society,” Chad Levin explains how farmers began to adopt the term, “factory farms”. In the beginning, farmers were trying to industrialize and create the best factory farm in the United States. Many farmers wanted to succeed with new technology presented, they created faster ways to butcher animals, antibiotics to control the criticism of many that did not believe factory farming was the healthiest way to produce food. Factory farming is preferred over other traditional farming methods because it is an efficient way to produce more meat in a shorter time
Many policies on farm and agriculture has impacted the way food is grown in America. For example hedge funds, described in page 11 of Foodopoly have essentially driven the prices of land in America and worldwide. This has resulted in farmers having to either cut down costs and make due with lesser land, or be forced out of business. Along with pollution to environment, this policy along with many others results in the situation described in page 12, with lesser farmers working to supply the nation (from 6.8 million to under 1 million). Most often, farmers sell their products are low prices to pay off land that is priced higher...
Milk today is not what it used to be. Only three percent of the U.S. population regularly consumes raw, unprocessed milk regularly (CDC). Before the process of pasteurization, cultures throughout history thrived on raw milk. In America, the first cows were brought to the Jamestown colony in 1610. Cottage dairying in America started in 1620, with the large importation of cattle from Europe. As the nation moved west, settlers sought pastures and room for more cattle. Most families had a family cow, and even small dairies were family-owned. During this time, cows fed off lush, green pastures. Ron Schmid observes, in his Untold Story of Milk, “Milk in America at the beginning of the nineteenth century was of the same character as the milk that had nurtured humanity for many thousands of years . . . This was soon to change, as the growth of the cities would lead to changes in milk that would have devastating effect...
Jordan, Miriam. “Got Workers? Dairy Farms Run Low on Labor” Wall Street Journal 30 5 2009:
Farmers are essentially the back-bone of the entire food system. Large-scale family farms account for 10% of all farms, but 75% of overall food production, (CSS statistics). Without farmers, there would be no food for us to consume. Big business picked up on this right away and began to control the farmers profits and products. When farmers buy their land, they take out a loan in order to pay for their land and farm house and for the livestock, crops, and machinery that are involved in the farming process. Today, the loans are paid off through contracts with big business corporations. Since big business has such a hold over the farmers, they take advantage of this and capitalize on their crops, commodities, and profits. Farmers are life-long slaves to these b...
Cows go through a cycle of impregnation, birth and milking. 9.3 million cows are used to produce milk while they're impregnated. "Cows spend their lives indoors, typically on hard, abrasive concrete floors, frequently connected to a milking apparatus" (Farm Sanctuary). Cows are slaughtered for beef in the United States. These cows used for human consumption live for an average of 5 years because they are exhausted after all the intense torturing. "Young calves endure a long and stressful journey to a feedlot, where they are fattened on an unnatural diet until they reach "market weight" and are sent to slaughter" (Farm Sanctuary). Animal abuse in the food industry has allowed the companies to get more money because of the food they
Before the industrial revolution, villagers practiced communal farming, in which residents worked together to farm on a large lot of land. Part of the land was divided up into three different crop fields. One for wheat or rye, one for oats or beans, and one for fallow. The fourth section of land was left to give livestock a place to graze, plant wild plants, and store firewood for the winter. The Enclosure Movement helped propel the shift from agriculture to industry. With this movement, agriculture was used for commercial practices and not so much as a way to feed single families. Before the start the Enclosure Movement, villages practiced communal farming in which the land and what was grown and raised on it was shared between the residents. However, this way of farming changed as effects of the Enclosure Movement made their way into the villages. Communal farms were divided up into single-family farms, with each family receiving and equal share of land. The owners of the land were rich families. These owners lease the land to farmers. During the enclosure movement, the land owners wrote new leases to individual families. These leases usually lasted 19 years and every family that lived in the village had the right to get a lease. People who got very small farms could not survive on their own without the right to use the common land, of which there was little to no land because it had been divided up. Therefo...
Envision a farm with an abundance of animals and crops. The farm that most likely comes to mind is not one of giant machinery and smokestacks of pollution, but a vision of the old red barn and cows grazing freely. Sadly, these types of farms are mostly gone in the United States. These ‘family farms’ are being replaced every day by bigger, more industrialized farms. It is sad to see such a staple of the American culture being washed away by a type of farm that is being used purely for economic reasons. Family farming is slowly disappearing from the American landscape. We, as Americans, need to realize the importance of family farming because it produces high quality foods and helps economically for the local community.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
Scientists say that farmers need to produce 50-100 percent more food than they already do now.... ... middle of paper ... ... Chances are farmers aren’t going to pack up everything to adapt to a new farming method that is just too expensive for the farmers.