A cura di @Perodatrent

Il Guardian spiega i cambiamenti strutturali nell’agricoltura degli Stati Uniti, prendendo come riferimento le storie di alcuni piccoli agricoltori.

Quando lo Iowa fu colonizzato, la terra venne divisa in scacchiere di appezzamenti di circa 20 ettari, in cui le singole famiglie coltivavano diversi prodotti e allevavano il bestiame.

“When we very first were married, we had cattle and calves,” she says. “We raised hogs from farrow to finish, and we had corn, beans, hay and oats. So did everyone around us.”

Mezzo secolo dopo, la famiglia può verificare la distruzione della comunità rurale cui apparteneva, citando i nomi delle famiglie che una volta vivevano nelle località e che hanno lasciato. Spesso  non esistono più neanche le case, spianate per far posto all’agricoltura intensiva. Naturalmente, la mancanza di persone ha costretto alla chiusura dei negozi di prossimità, e alla scomparsa di medici, veterinari…

And while the Kalbachs have hung on to their farm, they long ago abandoned livestock and mixed arable farming for the only thing they can make money at any more – growing corn and soya beans to sell to corporate buyers as feed for animals crammed by the thousands into the huge semi-automated sheds that now dominate farming, and the landscape, in large parts of Iowa.

Come spiega un altro degli intervistati, parlando delle corporations che controllano la produzione,

Gibbons explains: “They are vertically integrated, from animal genetics to grocery store. What they charge isn’t based upon what it costs to produce, and it’s not based on supply and demand, because they know what they need to make a profit. What they have done, through government support and taxpayer support, is to intentionally overproduce so that the price stays low, sometimes below the cost of production. That kicks their competition out of the market. Then they become the only player in town.

“Over time, it has extracted wealth and power from communities. We can see how that has impacted rural main streets… Corporations game the system by obtaining low-interest, federally guaranteed loans to build Cafos that then overproduce. But they know the government will buy up the surplus to stabilise prices.

It would be a different argument if it was just based upon inevitability or based on competition. But it’s not based upon competition: it’s based upon squelching competition.”

Immagine da pixabay.