Where have all the farmers gone? Brian Halweil http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/agriculture/strength.htm http://www.gudaoxifeng.com/html/35165.shtml

The shift from rural areas to cities Falling incomes Rising debt Rural poverty Attraction from urban life -- higher income and more opportunities http://hsc.csu.edu.au/geography/urban/cities/worldcities/newyork.jpg

Reality unemployment and ill health in the cities marginalization of farmers: a vicious cycle

Why the farmers quit farming? http://news.dg.soufun.com/2008-04-09/1646680.htm

The power of technology and mechanization in a industrialized society Widespread using of chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides “outsource” expenditures Prevailed players in a food industry– the processing and packaging business http://cul.news.tom.com/2007-08-22/074F/35720085.html

Result from the high technology Farmer’s profit margin dropped dramatically Small farms are being driven out; fewer farmers on bigger tracts of land producing a greater share of the food supply farmers are becoming more dependent and lost the diversity of crops http://www.nmbb.com.cn/picView.asp?id=84

The squeeze from food cartels Centralized control of the food system from the agricultural oligopoly Mergers, takeovers and alliances make few agribusiness firms be extremely profitable: widening gap between farm prices and retail food prices The result of seeking high profit of corporate bureaucracies: the quality of the food? Farmers are losing control of the production process: problem from the bank, contracts and so on http://searchui.search.mainone.com/cpa-100-20-0-20-1-23-24--1.htm?cat_id=1008451

Result from the high concentration higher price; lower quality food losing professional farmers with extensive knowledge http://dontdatethatdude.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/farmer-john-cornfield2.jpg

Backfire towards rural community: tearing of the social fabric poverty crimes social class distinctions mental stress lower rates of medical protection breakdown of families ties high rates of suicides security threats

Ecological disruption Lost of crop diversity; simplified crop system Simplifying the ecology of a field can result in nitrogen pollution, water pollution (algae blooms) , gargantuan amounts of waste … Big enterprises are less concerned about the pollution and resource degradation overuse of antibiotics caused growing antibiotic resistance in food-borne bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter http://serc.carleton.edu/images/microbelife/topics/red_tide_genera.v3.jpg