On Mon, 22 Oct 2001, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
Also, your argument makes no economic sense. Against whom are these peasants competing? Surely they can eat what they grow no matter how cheaply the "rapacious" factory farmers price their wares.
Actually it makes perfect sense, if you understand how a farm works. The farmers are competing against the environment, their own limited knowledge and resources, and time. Do you seriously want to propose that a chicken craps a combine? That the seeds for the various crop rotations simply drop from the sky like manna? That it'll always rain just enough, and therefore there won't be a need for irridation ditches down to the local crick? And what about all that animal feed? And the wood for the fence posts and the wire for the wire? Now, how many people does that one person farm now need to hire in order to get all the infrastructure and support services running, before we even get around to feeding ourselves? A self-sufficient farm is either a very low-tech endeavour (which reduces your needs) or else it grows according to economy of scales. -- ____________________________________________________________________ The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. Edmund Burke (1784) The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------