International Agriculture: North America & Europe

Large corporations have taken over 600,000 family farms since 1960 but Wisconsinbased Organic Valley hopes to reverse this trend. Since 1988, Organic Valley has grown from a small cooperative of seven family-owned organic farms to 1,239 farms in 32 U.S. states and Canada. Cooperative ownership ensures decent returns for members and employees. Organic Valley works with the Domestic Fair Trade Working Group to promote marketing standards that assure healthy foods for shoppers and safe working conditions for farmers. Photo: Organic Valley

by Molly Anderson
with Phana Nakkharach

In North America and Europe (NAE), science and technology have dramatically increased agricultural productivity over the last 50 years, but the IAASTD notes that these gains have been accompanied by environmental costs, especially loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, and declining water quality. Although most people in NAE countries do not suffer from hunger, abundant yields have not led to the eradication of hunger and food insecurity. Growing numbers of our people are malnourished—the result of eating too much of the wrong kinds of food. The increasing concentration of agricultural markets and current agricultural policies prevent most farmers, farmworkers and other food-system wage-earners from securing livable wages from agricultural work alone.

Agriculture today must serve multiple functions while coping with climate change, new and emerging diseases, consumer expectations for higher product quality and safety, changing markets, and demands for agrofuels. The NAE report underscores the multifunctional nature of agriculture, namely its role in supporting sustainable livelihoods, cultural heritage, pleasing landscapes, and biologically diverse ecosystems that provide not only food, feed and fiber but also essential ecological “goods and services” such as pollination, carbon capture and water and nutrient cycling.

The NAE report emphasizes three strategies for agriculture’s future. First, knowledge systems need to be reshaped so that they are more participatory, democratic and interactive, with decisions based on shared knowledge and research. For example, farmerto- farmer networks and Citizen Advisory Councils can help ensure that agricultural knowledge and technology are addressing real public concerns.

Second, agricultural policy and governance need to balance power more effectively and involve more stakeholders in crafting policies that serve the common good. For example, Food Policy Councils in North American cities can help public agencies, businesses and nongovernmental organizations improve public health by increasing access to neighborhood markets stocked with an abundance of fresh, locally grown food.

Third, funding for agricultural knowledge, science and technology needs to be increased and redirected to meet equitable, sustainable development goals: eradicating hunger, improving health and rural livelihoods, decreasing poverty, advancing social equity, and protecting environmental resources while ensuring high yields.

Throughout the NAE report, the authors stress the global interdependence of agricultural systems. The agrifood systems in both North America and Europe have traditionally drawn on natural resources and labor from other regions of the world and our institutions and companies exert a powerful influence on world agriculture. The report concludes that people in Europe and North America need to work more cooperatively with people in developing countries to share responsibility for supporting agricultural practices that build healthy and sustainable food systems.