Agricultural Globalization

Today met with farmers who are members of an agriculture community development organization. As a part of this CDO, each person tills their own few acres for personal profit and also do communal work like cultivating seeds in a greenhouse to earn extra funds which are distributed equally between them. This is beneficial because it increases the selling power of these people as they do not hire outside workers and they watch out for each other when it comes to selling at the market. Recently, this group has profited from their communal decision to farm organically and they are able to sell their products for a good price because, even if the food does not look as good as food grown with pesticides, their products is better. Organic farming has been very successful not only for quality of product but also for the environment because it introduces fewer toxins into the environment and to people while it helps the water supply of the area.

Due to globalizations harmful ideas are being introduced in the farming communities and have caused people like these farmers to need groups like this CDO. Due to advancement, the government and companies have taken land from people to develop into cities, displaced others with dams, and combined land to create mega farms. The farmers we talked with spoke of many frustrations with globalization. They feel taken advantage of because they are primarily poor and uneducated; unable to find channels to fight their oppression. Also, these men felt as it they, as Indians, will never be able to catch up with the rest of the world technologically because they will reach a certain point and the rest of the world will have already moved on from there. Another effect of globalization is that the children of these farmers are going to school and into fields that are often outside the agricultural scene, not desiring to continue farming. If the farmers are not replaced when they are gone, where will the food come from?

With the introduction of globalization comes the question of ethics. One solution to the farmers not being replaced by their offspring is to combine land into fewer, larger farms that use technological advances to produce food. This is, however, not necessarily a feasible answer because it lowers the water tables, causes erosion, and often entails introducing more harmful chemicals into the environment. The health and well being of these people will be adversely affected if mega farms take over the agriculture scene. Another harmful effect is the loss of heritage because many of these people have descended from a long line of farmers in their families and they, like the Adivasis, may feel very connected to the land they and their predecessors have tilled.