In The Guardian this week, George Monbiot explores an old paradox: Small farms produce more than big farms on a per acre basis. In some case a lot more. From the article,

“A recent study of farming in Turkey, for example, found that farms of less than one hectare are 20 times as productive as farms of more than 10 hectares. Sen’s observation has been tested in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Java, the Philippines, Brazil, Colombia and Paraguay. It appears to hold almost everywhere.”

As credited in the article, this phenomenon was first observed in the early 1960’s by future Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

While the reasons for the productivity increase range from farming and labor practices to inefficiences created by mechanized large-scale farming, the paradox of the situation is amplified by the efforts of large conglomerates including ConAgra, Monsanto and others,

“By extending intellectual property rights over every aspect of production, and by developing plants that either won’t breed true or don’t reproduce at all, big business ensures that only those with access to capital can cultivate.

As the food shortages and high prices continue to cause instability, unrest and violence around the world, it becomes increasingly problematic to buy products produced by companies who’s practices clearly place their own interests well ahead of the common human good.

With an ever wider array of food products available from local sources that seem, feel, taste and actually are better for the productive capacity of the planet, why continue to support the conglomerates? If there was ever a reason to shop at your local farm, farmers market or to plant a garden, here it is! Besides, buying from your local farm, you get to sidestep all those pesky food processing issues, right?

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