Food system disasters show the need to downsize and democratize

Time for a morbid pop quiz. What do 18,000 cows killed on a farm in Texas last year have in common with 820,000 herring killed on salmon farms in British Columbia in 2022?

Answer: The ongoing industrialization of our food system. We have created a food system that prioritizes producing food in mass quantities at low costs. As others have put it,“supersized factory farms create supersized disasters.” Both the cows and the herring were killed in factory farm accidents caused by failures in operation and oversight.

Not only do these dynamics put the fish and livestock that we consume at risk, they also threaten the livelihoods of our nation’s food providers. As food production becomes more concentrated, fewer people are working the land and fishing our waters. That, in turn, has implications on food security — we got a taste of that when global supply chains faltered in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, robust local and regional food systems proved to be a bright spot in feeding people.

Thankfully, there is hope for local food economies in key pieces of legislation that have been introduced and could become part of the farm bill, specifically, The Farm System Reform Act, Fair Credit for Farmers Act, and Improving Agriculture, Research, Cultivation, Timber, and Indigenous Commodities (ARCTIC) Act. If these bills would become part of that omnibus piece of legislation that governs most facets of our food system, farmers and fishermen both would benefit with increased investments in markets, institutional oversight and infrastructure. Such initiatives would put us on the right track by decentralizing our food system and empowering small- and medium-scale food providers.

Here we want to make an important distinction: The catastrophes referenced above were man-made, and therefore, preventable. For farmers and fishermen across our organizations the harsh reality is that natural disasters are always on the horizon. Mother Nature humbles often, reminding us of her power in storms that flood our fields or force us to harbor our boats.

Many of us choose to work with nature instead of fighting her, developing ways to mitigate risk that include using homeopathic remedies for our cows if they fall sick, or trolling with multiple lines in the water, instead of trawling with large nets that indiscriminately catch all kinds of fish. We understand that strengthening the immune systems of our livestock allows them to better weather the next illness, and that minimizing bycatch, or unintended marine species caught during commercial fishing, keeps our oceans abundant and resilient. These practices help soften the blow from the inevitable disaster.

Yet as our supply chains become dominated by fewer large players, we increase the risk of large-scale disasters, both manmade and natural. The recently published 2022 Census of Agriculture shows that the average size of farms ticked up 5 percent, from 441 acres in 2017 to 463 acres in 2022. Over 140,000 farms and ranches exited the industry during this time, putting our nation’s grand total at 1.9 million. Meanwhile, 105,384 farms with sales of $1 million or more — just 6 percent of U.S. farms — sold more than 75 percent of all agricultural products.

Developments in the fishing industry parallel what is taking place in agriculture. According to NOAA and their List of Fisheries Reports, from 2010 to 2020, the total pounds of fish caught, or landed by U.S. commercial fishermen, went up from 8.2 to 8.4 billion, as sales went up from $4.5 billion to $4.8. Yet during that same time, the number of fishing vessels and/or fishermen at work in U.S. waters fell from 175,971 to 137,592 — a 25 percent drop.

From land to sea, year after year, more community-based food providers are getting displaced from their jobs and ways of life. Some legislators understand that our nation’s food security, local economies, and cultural heritage are at stake. They have introduced key legislation that would give small-scale fishing and farming communities a fighting chance.

Rep. Alma Adams’ (D-N.C.) Fair Credit for Farmers Act, for instance, helps economically distressed producers by instituting a two-year interest-free deferral on direct farm loans, while extending the period for loan repayment for two additional years. The measure also improves transparency at the USDA for farmers who may have been denied loans, helping producers — especially people of color — hold officials accountable.

Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) Food System Reform Actplaces a moratorium on new confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), targeting concentration directly. This legislation, moreover, provides debt forgiveness and technical assistance services for CAFO owners so that they can downscale while remaining profitable.

Also targeting concentration, Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) Improving ARCTIC Act would block placing CAFOs in the sea by banning offshore finfish farming. Moreover, it dedicates resources to create a pilot grant program for domestic seafood processing in coastal communities. This provision strengthens infrastructure, providing small-scale fishermen and seafood businesses with the means to get their product to local markets and consumers.

Farmers and fishers may work in vastly different environments, but many of our problems are the same. The disasters that we experience are symptoms of much larger problems in our mega-scaled-up, consolidated food system. Luckily, some policymakers see the chance for change, and understand how the farm bill can be a vehicle for our country to improve the long-term resilience of our food systems. 

Anthony Pahnke is the vice president of the Family Farm Defenders, and Associate Professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University. Jason Jarvis is a fisherman out of Rhode Island, and the Board President of the North American Marine Alliance.