Hunger and Industrial Agriculture

Andrew Kimbrell argues in “Seven Myths of Industrial Agriculture” that industrial agriculture will not feed the world. He points out that the mass enclosure of farms, wrought by the domineering and ubiquitous food corporations, is a major reason why hundreds of millions of people go hungry every day. Over the last century in poor countries, first world corporations have fallen into the practice of ejecting traditional peasants from their farmland in order to reap expensive, luxury crops from the land. These crops, including cotton, coffee, and soybeans, are immediately exported to rich countries. Nothing is left to feed the local poor. The peasants, now without land on which to farm and sustain their families, have no other choice but to move to urban areas to find menial labor. Forced out of prosperous rural life, the growing class of urban poor is, as Kimbrell puts it, “doomed to long-term hunger or starvation” because they have no means with which to grow food for themselves.

Kimbrell continues to argue that industrial agriculture is also afflicting current farmers with hunger. As giant food conglomerates gain more and more control over small farmers, they come to own the rights to everything that the farmers use, including chemicals, seeds, and technology. This causes the farmers’ profits to drop dramatically, forcing them into poverty.

Supporters of industrial agriculture maintain that the people go hungry because not enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world. They argue that the answer to solving this problem is industrial agriculture, because industrial farms produce a higher yield than low-tech farms. Increased industrial agriculture would therefore increase the amount of food in the word, which would go toward feeding the hungry. The only way to solve the problem of hunger, according to some, is to increase industrialization in order to produce enough food to feed the world’s bustling population.

Kimbrell argues that this argument is flawed. He brings up evidence that proves that the problem with hunger is not in the amount of food in the world. He states, “Every year, enough wheat, rice, and other grains are produced to provide every human with 3,500 calories a day.” The real problem, then, is clearly not with the amount of food in the world. The most prevalent causes of hunger reside within industrial agriculture itself, through the enclosure of farmland and the oppression of small farmers.

Kimbrell states, “hunger can only be solved by an agricultural system that promotes food independence.” In pursuit of ending hunger, our generation must act quickly to encourage food independence rather than sit by as disinterested food corporations continue to increase hunger in the name of industrial agriculture.