According to the Institute for Self-Reliable Agriculture, poor farmers in the Developing World would significantly benefit from small-scale sustainable agriculture. Backed by United Nations reports on climate change and the need for major farm reform, groups like the ISRA are campaigning to change agricultural practices across the globe.
With a growing global population and increasing fears of global climate change, international aid organizations and supranational institutions are becoming increasingly concerned about agricultural reform. American-style agriculture (with its focus on large-scale production and its emphasis on cash crops) has been staggeringly lucrative for First World farmers (who have access to the capital needed to invest in farm equipment, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers). However, it has only helped exacerbate poverty in the Developing World (where farmers often do not make enough money from cash crops to support their families and where monocropping leaves harvests vulnerable to pests.
Groups like the ISRA argue that embracing a smaller, sustainable model could help farmers climb out of poverty. Growing a variety of crops designed to support farmers rather than for sale on the market could help create self-sustaining farm communities capable of participating in local markets.
Groups advocating this kind of farm reform are encouraging the federal government to restructure foreign farm aid in order to encourage a more sustainable form of production.
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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer