Raising the wages of farmers on a global scale
Growing up, many of us have had the experience of getting to plant a seed and watch it bloom or sometimes shrivel; Too many of us, that was our first real experience in the world of farming. Yet now, the current world of farming seems to be making a turn for the worst and burying the excitement and optimism we once had for it. Farming is our foundation as humans, it has allowed us to evolve and grow to this point in time. The pillars that sustain farming are being torn and broken apart. Corporations are abusing their producers, by neglecting their wellbeing, and their needs.
Data collected from the New Agriculture Census shows “how the number of farms and acres in farming has gone down since 2007. The 2012 Ag Census data revealed that there are now about 2.1 million farmers, a 4.3 percent decrease from the 2007 Ag Census.” This shows how farming has been declining in popularity in recent years and this decline in farming and land can be fatal to us as a society especially when farmers provided 80% of the world’s food.
One must be reminded that for a very long time agriculture was the base of all civilization. In fact, cities were created because of farming. Civilization changed us into producers and traders. Julian Agyeman says, “The first cities that came about, came about 5,000 years ago as a result of one major factor, food. We started to change from hunters and gatherers to people who started to produce food.” If farming is our foundation for cities and if it allowed us to evolve and grow to this point, then why destroy the structure now? Destruction of the structure is being done by allowing corporations to abuse their producers, by neglecting their wellbeing, and the needs they require to continue to produce on the large scale they are required to.
Raising the wages of farmers on a global scale would not only help the current farmers from starvation, but it would set an incentive for people to become farmers, allowing enough food to be catered and controlled as it should be. This incentive for farming will come as a result of better conditions and the benefits of being a farmer. It would eliminate the risk of putting everything on the line while encouraging empowerment and growth towards the community of farmers worldwide.
