Why is agriculture important?

Today, it is not too unusual to see agriculture and farmers get a ‘bit of a stick’ in the media.

Some journalists and lobbyists seem determined at times to score points in the industry. The moans and complaints are generally related to things like:

• Slow moving farm vehicles blocking roads

• Rising farm prices raise the cost of living

• Subsidies to taxpayers (in some countries) with the implication that some farmers are being ‘full of feathers’

• Concerns about agricultural practices and things like GM crops, pesticides, destruction of the natural environment, etc.

• The ‘corporatization’ of agricultural practices and large companies that exploit the consumer

• Animal welfare

• etc.

Now, not all of these concerns are constant and can vary from one area, state or country to another, but they do exist and can be a nuisance to farmers.

It is possible to accept that, occasionally, there may be a bit of truth in some observations. The global agricultural industry, like any other industry, has its fair share of problems to tackle and many farmers acknowledge this.

However, how fundamental agriculture is to the survival of society is sometimes overlooked. Yes, that is survival.

The problem is that in much of today’s Western industrialized societies, and indeed increasingly throughout the world as well, society is more separated from agriculture and food production than ever before in human history. . Even in the large industrial cities of the early 19th century, it would have been a relatively short walk to the farms that started on the outskirts of the city and every day urban people would have seen farmers bring their produce directly to them to sell in local markets. .

That familiarity has disappeared and with it that instinctive recognition of the importance of agriculture for the daily existence of society. This is because due to the advancement of agricultural science and technology, such as agricultural machinery, in most developed countries during the world famine it is now virtually unknown apart from history books or harrowing news reports from what is still sometimes called “third World countries“even though the term is now considered to be politically incorrect.

However, famine and the mass deaths that result from it can be truly horrible. Just consider a few relatively recent examples:

• the Chinese famines of the late 1950s and early 1960s caused by catastrophic agricultural policies and bad luck with climate excesses. No one really knows how many died, but the most conservative estimates put the figure between 15 and 20 million.

• Late 19^th 21st century Indian famines caused by drought. They killed about 10 million people.

• The Soviet famine of the early 1930s left an estimated 8 million dead due to disastrous government policies related to grain production.

• The potato famine caused by plague and poverty left around 1 million dead in Ireland in mid-19^th century.

None of the above events, which are just a sample, are ancient medieval history and some occurred in living memory. They should serve as a reminder of how much we depend on agriculture to produce not only an economic benefit for our society, but also to keep us and our children alive.

Certainly, modern agriculture must be responsible and work in partnership with all areas of our society to constantly improve things, but let’s not make agriculture the villain of the piece at every opportunity. It’s all that stands between us and disaster in terms of having food available for him. growing human population.

After all, as the famous saying goes, “humanity is only three meals away from anarchy.“.