Small Farmers Quotes

“Far from setting the stage for more prosperity, the more these markets were opened, they predicted, the more unfavorable Africa's position was likely to become and the more damage would be done to African economies. For these critics, it was utopian footling to suggest that African farmers could soon match the rich world in financial resources, technology, or infrastructure, whether on the national level (roads, ports, bridges, ect.) or in the context of individual farms. Given these realities, a far likelier outcome was the further immiseration and marginalization of Africa's rural smallholders, while the most important enduring effect of trade liberalization was the creation of new markers for the agricultural producers of the Global North.”
― David Rieff, The Reproach of Hunger: Food, Justice, and Money in the Twenty-First Century

“But there is hope. The United Nations did a study showing that small farms can feed the world. Small farms are more adaptable. They are less costly, because they don't need extremely expensive machinery, and less environmentally damaging, because they don't need to spray chemicals. And they provide greater local economic opportunities than large industrial farms do. Small farms have been proven to produce higher yields per acre and more nutrient-dense foods.”
― Randy Woodley, Journey to Eloheh: How Indigenous Values Lead Us to Harmony and Well-Being

“On a planet with 300 million species and 7 billion humans, one man determining the future is a dangerous idea. It is dangerous for the Earth, because the anthropocentric, reductionist, and mechanistic assumptions by which Gates is guided are at the root of the ecological crisis that has brought us to the brink.”
― Vandana Shiva, One Earth, One Humanity vs. the 1%

“Towards the rear of the house lay the boot room, its cool stone floor giving away its former life as a dairy. Heavy iron hooks still hung from the beams where milk pails and cheesecloths once dangled. I relished the idea that this building had once been so much a part of the food eaten by those living within it.”
― Sam Gray, A Life Worth Eating: Tales from a small farm - and why our food choices matter