In the 1970s, environmentalists and politicians in the imperial core quivered in their seats over the prospect of a population explosion.
Malthusian prophecies of total collapse and Thanos-esque proposals of racial extermination pervaded political thought. For many, it seemed the end of the world was at our doorstep, and one of the main worries was that food production wouldn't be able to support the billions of mouths that would be born in the coming decades. But then the green revolution happened, and everything was supposedly better.
Labor-saving technology and fossil fuel-laden chemicals pulled the world back from the precipice of famine and death.
At least, that's the dominant narrative that has been pushed since the 1970s. Today, though, we're going to deconstruct this story about industrial farming, and answer the question: can small-scale regenerative farming feed the world?
The so-called Green Revolution was a temporary patch on a much larger food system crisis. If anything, the industrial farming explosion in the 1970s, which implemented new labor-saving technologies like combine harvesters, high-yield seed varieties, and consolidation of farmland to increase global food production, seems to have done more harm than good.
Part of this has to do with the fact that the Green Revolution substituted the cost of labor with that of fossil fuels. Instead of endless hours on the farm, landholders just used fossil fuels to power their harvesters, tillers, and develop synthetic fertilizers. For an aging farming population, this was great news. You could get the same yields you were getting before, and only have to work two weeks in the spring and two in the fall. For the soil, the atmosphere, and the insect and bird populations, however, this new industrial agriculture spelled disaster.
How can small farmers adopt new technology?
There are some 500 million smallholder farms worldwide; more than 2 billion people depend on them for their livelihoods. These small farms produce about 80 per cent of the food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In my many years of working in agriculture and rural development, two things have become increasingly evident. The first is that farming at any scale is a business, and smallholders and producers must be treated as entrepreneurs. The second is that businesses need clear linkages along the value chain, from production to processing, marketing and, ultimately, to consumption. When these links are in place, wonderful things begin to happen.
Small farms face a number of obstacles to sustain their livelihoods. They battle a changing climate, with more spells of drought as well as more intense storms and rain. And finding regular buyers is difficult, especially as the global food system demands a steady stream of robust produce year-round, regardless of seasonality and how far it has to be shipped.
By growing heirloom and other non-commercial varieties, small farms bolster biodiversity and increase food security. With only 12 plants and five animal species making up 75 percent of what the world eats, food systems are vulnerable to natural disasters and disease outbreak.
The food industry and policymakers both play a role in supporting small-scale agriculture. Through inclusive business models, companies can buy and promote smallholder products, and governments can create policies that protect family farmers and incentivize doing business with them.
