[asia-apec 1350] Small Farms More Productive than Large Farms but Threatened by WTO Negot

[Anuradha Mittal]

For Immediate Release
Nov. 23, 1999
Contact: Anuradha Mittal
(510) 654-4400 (x 108)
>From 26 Nov-3 Dec., 1999:
Cell Phone: 404-664-6812


Small Farms More Productive than Large Farms
but Threatened by The WTO Negotiations

The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First
and the Transnational Institute Release a New Report:

The Multiple Functions and Benefits
of Small Farm Agriculture

In the Context of Global Trade Negotiations

By Peter Rosset

Full text of the report available on-line at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/policybs/pb4.html

A condensed version is available at:

http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/1999/w99v6n4.html

November 23, 1999

Oakland, CA --  Small farms are more productive than large farms, yet 
their continued existence is threatened by the World Trade Organization 
(WTO) negotiations, according to a major study released by a social and 
economic policy think tank.

The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as "Food 
First," based in California, published the study authored by 
agricultural development specialist Dr. Peter Rosset. Challenging the 
conventional wisdom that small farms are backward and unproductive, the 
study shows that small farmers worldwide produce from 2 to 10 times more 
per unit area than do larger, corporate farmers.

"In fact small farms are 'multi-functional' -- more productive, more
efficient, and contribute more to economic development than do large
farms," said Dr. Rosset, Executive Director of the Institute for Food 
and Development Policy and the author of the report.

Communities surrounded by populous small farms have healthier economies
than do communities surrounded by depopulated large, mechanized farms,
according the study.  Small farmers also take better care of natural
resources, including reducing soil erosion and conserving biodiversity.
Small farmers are better stewards of natural resources, safeguarding the 
future sustainability of agricultural production.

"Despite more than a century of anti-small farmer policies in country 
after country, in both industrialized and third world countries," said 
Dr. Rosset, "small farmers not only still cling to the soil but continue 
to be more productive and more efficient than large, agri-business 
farming operations. Small farmers offer the best way to feed the world, 
and the only way to effectively conserve soil resources for future 
generations."

Unfortunately the study shows that today the world's small farmers face
unprecedented threats to their livelihoods, thanks to free trade 
agreements negotiated in recent years.  "Free trade causes the prices 
farmers receive to drop through the floor", said Rosset," driving them 
into bankruptcy by the millions."  Such low prices mean only the largest 
can survive, according to the study.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), to be 
negotiated in Seattle, USA, later this month, is the weapon that could 
deal the final death blow to the world's small farmers, according to 
Rosset. "The U.S. Government negotiators," said Rosset, himself an 
American, "have as their goal for Seattle the complete liberalization of 
trade in farm products."

ATTENTION: Policy Director Anuradha Mittal, and Executive Director Dr.
Peter Rosset, of Food First/The Institute for Food and Development 
Policy, will be in Seattle for the WTO meetings, events, etc. from 
November 26 - December 3rd.

They will be available to comment on the following topics:

* food security, hunger and the WTO
* small farmers and the WTO
* bioengineered foods, intellectual property rights, and the WTO
* principles for fairer trade
* economic human rights and the WTO
* food as a human right, and the WTO
* free trade vs. broadbased economic development
* the WTO ans sustainable agriculture
* etc.

They can be contacted *before* November 26 at the Food First office --
details at the end of this message.

>From November 26 to December 3rd, you may contact in Seattle them as 
follows:

Cell Phone: 404-664-6812

Nov. 26-28
Alexis Hotel, 1007 First Avenue
Tel: 206-624-4844,
Fax: 206-621-9009

Nov. 28 - Dec. 3
Vagabond Inn, 325 Aurora Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
Phone:  (206) 441-0400
or 1/800-522-1555
Fax:  (206) 448-3353

###

Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst at foodfirst.org.

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