Small Family Farms Aren’t the Answer

The romance of neoliberal peasant farming blinds us to our collective power

Photo: Texas Co-Op Power

Let’s get this out of the way, first:

• I am a small farmer, operating on 40-ish acres in Virginia’s Northern Neck.
• I am not paid by, in hock to, in league with, or particularly happy with Big Agriculture. I’m just a guy who’s been in the small-sustainable farming business long enough to understand that the model is fatally flawed, and mature enough to say it out loud.
• To my friends who run and staff farmers markets: This essay is hard on farmers markets. It’s not because I don’t love you, but because I’m describing how restorative agriculture needs to evolve in order to compete without sacrificing its values.

Author, thoroughly enjoying himself at FreshFarm Crystal City. Photo: FreshFarmDC

Now…

I recently found myself with the free time to do some simple math. One of the larger farmers markets I participate in has about 100 vendors. I’m one of the mid-sized operations that sells there, and I’m paying about $1,000 a year in fees to participate in the market. I’m also devoting about 250 hours a year in staffing and prep time (call it $3,000), and…