American Farming:

American farming is drastically different from European farming. America has moved on from the older and more traditional ways of farming that Europe still uses. American farming and agricultural models are set up for large-scale productions and commodities. From regulations and policies to the use of GMOs, America has a more modernized farming experience. However innovative, America has slowly weeded out family farms, and has practically corporatized farming, making it a struggle to be able to be a small-time farmer and make a good living within America. 


We have cheaper foods due to our different regulations, and in many cases genetically modified crops (GMs) helps our mentality of 'quantity over quality.'

Although mass production farming has it's benefits, it also has many or more negatives. Instead of allowing citizens to prosper, it brings in many non-citizens that work for the corporate farm, aiding in a smaller population (farm-owners) to become wealthy, while leaving the workers and small family farmers with nothing but struggle. As family farms become more rare, so does the ability for rural men and women to go back to their hometowns post-college and be able to make a living as much of rural economy relies upon farming, and due to corporate farms, it has become seemingly impossible for small farms to make it, or for rural cities to uphold an economy that allows young men and women to return to their town and make a good living due to depopulation of rural areas.

Now there are only about 2.7 million American farmers, both large and small scale.  This number might seem abundant, but not when compared to the 10 million European farmers. Of these 2.7 million farms around 90% are small-scale family farms.

Sources: 
 http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21584994-why-american-agriculture-different-european-variety-farming-rocket-science
http://www.momagri.org/UK/points-of-view/A-comparative-approach-to-European-and-American-agricultural-policies_798.html
http://findourcommonground.com/food-facts/corporate-farms/

This page was created for Marc Bousquet's English 363 at Emory University.