The Fruit Growers News - January 2002


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Goal Should Be More Farmers, Not Fewer

By Richard Levins University of Minnesota

The current member countries of the European Union (EU) have almost eight million farms, four times as many as we have in the United States. As other countries join the EU, millions more farms will come under Common Agricultural Policy. Should that policy demand that these farms “get big or get out,” the path we have taken here, or should they try something else? I think the answer depends on what you expect from a farmer. In the United States, our policies most often take a fairly narrow view of what a farmer does: plant and harvest crops, feed and care for livestock. Waves of new technology constantly make it possible for fewer people to do these vitally important tasks. Hence, we hear solutions to the farm income problem that would reduce the number of farmers. In short, we have too many farmers. The Europeans I met took a different, broader view of the farmer’s job description. In addition to producing food, the European farmer is expected to play a significant role in supporting rural economies and in protecting the environment. This is additional work, and it requires more farmers, not fewer. Don’t American farmers have the same goals for their communities and their environment? Of course they do. Two decades of working with farmers have, if nothing else, taught me that the farmer’s heart is in the right place. But it is unrealistic for public policy to, on one hand, ask farmers to do more, and on the other hand, to talk of needing fewer farmers. The European idea may not seem new for U.S. farmers, but we apply it all the time to other professions. Teachers, for example, must pass textbook knowledge along to students. But they also must encourage students and lend excitement to learning. They must be the first to diagnose all types of student problems. They must participate in the overall process of making sure that their school provides the best possible learning environment. This is why, in spite of new teaching technologies, we continue to prefer smaller class sizes and more teachers. The same reasoning applies to nurses, police officers and many other professions. We want more of them, not fewer. But somehow, the language of teachers, of nurses, and of police officers does not apply to farmers in this country. Surely, the best of farmers cannot do as much for the environment when they are responsible for 2,000 acres instead of 200, or 500 dairy cows instead of 50. And no one thinks that rural communities will be better off if we pursue a policy that basically “lays off” good farmers and asks them to move elsewhere. It’s time we stopped inventing policies to reward the largest farmers and do without the rest. Instead, we should be talking of farmers the way we do teachers, nurses, and other providers of services we all value. We would be better off with more farmers, not fewer.