Toward the Agro-Police State
You'll Need an iPad if You Want to be a Farmer
Ruiz-Marrero, Carmelo
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/26/toward-the-agro-police-state/
Date Written: 2014-09-26
Publisher: CounterPunch
Year Published: 2014
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX16777
The main problem with precision agriculture -- and the hype that surrounds it -- is the faulty assumptions that it rests on. The problems of agriculture are not caused by a lack of technology, or even by a lack of productivity (overproduction has as a matter of fact been a more frequent problem for farmers). The root problems are political and economic in nature.
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
The main problem with precision ag- and the hype that surrounds it- is the faulty assumptions that it rests on. The problems of agriculture are not caused by a lack of technology, or even by a lack of productivity (overproduction has as a matter of fact been a more frequent problem for farmers). The root problems are political and economic in nature. These include neoliberal trade policies that flood local markets with cheap imported food products, the high cost of land, the extortion of mortgage banks, the lack of institutional support on the part of governments, and the consolidation of agribusiness corporations into global cartels that manipulate prices and markets. No super seed, software app or pilotless plane will solve these problems.
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