Post-war farm subsidies favoring big farms destroyed the small-dairy economy.

Evidence

In Northern NY, Rebecca’s grandfather and great grandparents made a good living from dairy farms that consisted of under two hundred cows, some chickens, and enough acreage to grow the hay and corn to feed them. Milk was sold to local dairies who in turn bottled it and sold it to the local grocers in nearby towns and villages. Since WWII, however, and the introduction of farm subsidies that benefitted big farms, milk prices have dropped considerably making it difficult for small farms to survive. Today, the countryside is now dotted with the broken down remains of small farms. No longer able to compete with subsidized CAFOs (confined animal factory operations), the land is either going fallow, or being sold to developers for new housing. And, the prison industry has taken over where there was once a thriving farm economy. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1427

Categorization

• SEED: The prison-industry-over-farmland detail is a powerful lesson hook: a concrete place where CAFO economics and carceral economics met, usable for eco-justice classroom inquiry on regional change.
• XREF: connects to: Industrial capital required the destruction of rural household production — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 344; Base land seizures destroyed Okinawa’s farming economy and livelihood.; Subsidized American food imports destroy Jamaican farming and force tourism dependence — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 60 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Industrial capital required the destruction of rural household production #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 344
• Subsidized American food imports destroy Jamaican farming and force tourism dependence #qualifies (0.75) — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 60
• Base land seizures destroyed Okinawa’s farming economy and livelihood. #complicates (0.72)
• Postwar U.S. land seizures destroyed Guam’s self-sufficient food economy #corroborates (0.72) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 241