What Can Be Done to Increase Family Farming in America:
How can we stop corporate farming development? There are many ways. Factory farms are funded by the USDA. The factory farms use the USDA for their needs and goals. One specific federal program used is the EQIP that includes grants and loans through Farm Service Agency, but due to this agency and other agencies factory farms uses, these factory farms get a more lax regulation system due to these agencies allowing states to make their own policies and regulations.
So, federal laws such as Clean Water Act, do not provide oversight over factory farms. Over 60% of corporate farms in 2005 were unregulated due to states not keeping factory farms in check and regulated due to numerous reasons. With little federal regulation to rely on as they offer a hands off approach to help their friends the factory farms, rural family farms have to take their own action against factory farms through things such as local ordinances or litigation. Local planning, zoning, and state regulations can help minimize the area for where factory farms are allowed to operate and reside. Many states are now trying to pass policies regulating the placement of factory farms - keeping them out of their counties, hoping to keep them out of their state one day. In Missouri, for example, a bill was created to keep a 5-mile buffer zone around state parks and other historic sites. This was however blocked by the agribusiness lobbyists, further proving the interconnection between agribusiness and government policy and regulation.
To change this, having stronger lobbyists and a closer knit community of anti-factory farming peers would aid in the support of family farms. Also coming up with new regulation and policies that are actually used to regulate factory farms would cause many factory farms to change their ways, and possibly decrease the population of factory farms. Changing to a regulation system more similar to Europe's regulatory system would create room for family farms to grow again. See European Farming for more information on the ways and policies of European agriculture.
So, federal laws such as Clean Water Act, do not provide oversight over factory farms. Over 60% of corporate farms in 2005 were unregulated due to states not keeping factory farms in check and regulated due to numerous reasons. With little federal regulation to rely on as they offer a hands off approach to help their friends the factory farms, rural family farms have to take their own action against factory farms through things such as local ordinances or litigation. Local planning, zoning, and state regulations can help minimize the area for where factory farms are allowed to operate and reside. Many states are now trying to pass policies regulating the placement of factory farms - keeping them out of their counties, hoping to keep them out of their state one day. In Missouri, for example, a bill was created to keep a 5-mile buffer zone around state parks and other historic sites. This was however blocked by the agribusiness lobbyists, further proving the interconnection between agribusiness and government policy and regulation.
To change this, having stronger lobbyists and a closer knit community of anti-factory farming peers would aid in the support of family farms. Also coming up with new regulation and policies that are actually used to regulate factory farms would cause many factory farms to change their ways, and possibly decrease the population of factory farms. Changing to a regulation system more similar to Europe's regulatory system would create room for family farms to grow again. See European Farming for more information on the ways and policies of European agriculture.
Sources:
http://www.preservationnation.org/forum/library/public-articles/factory-farms.html
http://capreform.eu/family-farming-and-the-role-of-policy-in-the-eu/
http://epthinktank.eu/2014/02/15/future-of-small-farms/
http://www.preservationnation.org/forum/library/public-articles/factory-farms.html
http://capreform.eu/family-farming-and-the-role-of-policy-in-the-eu/
http://epthinktank.eu/2014/02/15/future-of-small-farms/
