A solution for Food Insecurity in America: Development of Family Farming
As a foreign student, after watching the movie A Place at The Table by Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush 2013, I was so surprised with what is happening in the US today about food insecurity. About one in six people in America are hungry. Everything in the movie is so different from what I have imagined myself about hunger and poverty before. America's problem of hunger does not look like hunger and poverty in other countries like those in Africa where people almost have nothing to eat. Although the U.S. government has put in a lot of effort to solve this major problem, food insecurity is still increasing in the country. Among many solutions, development of family farming is a good solution for hunger and poverty in the US.
Family farming plays an important role in agriculture in the U. S. According to information in the article "Family Farming in the United States", family farms represent 97.6% of all U.S. farms, they are dominating the U.S. agriculture because family farms create 85% of U.S. farm production. A family farm is a farm owned and operated by a family. Like other family business and real estate, ownership often passes to the next generation by inheritance. It is the basic unit of the mostly agricultural economy of much of human history and continues to be so in developing nations. Alternatives to family farms include those run by agribusiness, colloquially known as factory farms, or by collective farming.
In addition, family farming plays an important role in food systems as well as in alleviating hunger and poverty. Like what in the article"Family Farming is the Key to Alleviating Hunger and Poverty" said, a report of World Bank stated that every "one percent of increasing GDP in agriculture reduces poverty by four times as much as the same percentage increase in non-agricultural GDP". Besides, family farming has an important responsibility for the transformation of agricultural production through the management of land and water, protection of water resources, protection and promotion of biodiversity, contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Family farming can enhance soil health, protect water supplies, improve nutrition, and increase incomes. Small-scale, family-run farms not only form the base of rural communities in both the developing and developed world, but can also provide a large number of jobs, and is also at the center of sustainable production.
Similar to this, family farms help decrease unemployment rate in the US by creating a huge amount of agricultural products for the American export trade. According to statistics of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in the calendar year 2012, there were 929,000 full-time civilian jobs for agricultural exports, and more than 307,000 of U.S farmworkers. In the year 2012, 622.000 jobs in non-agricultural sectors have been involved in assembling, processing, distribution and maintenance of agricultural product exports. The reducing amount is 15,000 jobs, compared to 2011. More than 113,000 of those 622,000 jobs were in food processing; 199,000 in trade and transportation; 66,000 in other production areas; and 245,000 in other services. Economic of Research Service estimates for 2012 that some 6.577 workers were required to transport $ 1 billion of agricultural products to the final consumer instead of demand of 6,766 employees per billion dollar in 2011.
Last but not least, family farming can help people improve food and nutritional knowledge. Most of people who participate in farming or gardening often have a better knowledge about food and nutrition. If people want to grow a certain food by themselves, they need to have enough knowledge about that kind of food. They have to do research about advantages and disadvantages of any animal, plant they choose to grow so that they will have more wisdom about healthy and nutritional food. Besides, they will also know about the family of that plant, or animal. They will not only understand about the technique to grow those kinds of food but also understand about their nutritional value.
Family farming plays an important role in eliminating hunger in the U.S. Development of family farming is necessary for providing healthier food in the market as well as increasing jobs, and helping people have more knowledge about food and nutrition.Because family farming can benefit the U.S to solve many major issues of food and unemployment, government should to do something to expand family farming as well as assist current family farmers in the country.