Economic Sustainability

One of the buzz words in agriculture today is sustainability.  Sustainability is simply the ability to do the same thing over and over again.  Our production practices must be sustainable.  Sustainability is an important thing to be aware of if we are to continue to farm and feed the world in the future.  When we talk about sustainability, we usually think of the environment and preserving the natural resources in order that we can continue farming the same area in the same manner year after year after year.   One factor that often gets left out of the sustainability debate is economic sustainability.  If our practices are not economically sustainable, we will not be able to use them year after year after year, because we will eventually be bankrupt.

With this in mind, I am concerned about some of the discussion and debate that is taking place in preparation to begin drafting the 2012 “Farm Bill”.  Much of what I hear seems to be focused on how can we get more federal money for the farmers?  And how can we more equitably distribute the farm payments?    

With a federal deficit of 1.3 trillion dollars and a national debt of 13.6 trillion dollars, the federal government is all but bankrupt (some would argue that they are already bankrupt and just don’t know it).  I have to ask myself:  Is it economically sustainable for American agriculture to be dependent on federal money?  Wouldn’t we be better served by a discussion about how to make American farmers profitable without government payments?  I am not suggesting that we can or should just discontinue all government payments to farmers; this would not be wise without addressing the reasons why farmers need these payments in the first place.  I do believe that by making some changes to our agriculture policies, we can wean American agriculture off government payments and into a more economically sustainable position. 

Some of the issues that I think we should address are commodity pricing systems (more accurate price discovery mechanism), trade barriers (the double standard between foreign and domestically produced products), over regulation, tax reform, immigration reform and labor laws.  This list could go on and on. 

There is a movement gaining momentum to reduce government spending, and the cry to end farm subsidies is getting louder and louder.  We can try to fight against this movement, and very likely lose, or we can join with this movement and ensure the economic sustainability of agriculture for future generations.