Contrary Farmers and the Literature of Agri/cultural Resistance

Summary

The consequences of the shift from traditional agriculture to modern agribusiness which took place in North America in the 20^th century remained, until roughly mid-1980, little known outside farming communities and the narrow circles of agricultural specialists. Half a century later, when the reorganization of food production on the industrial model has practically been completed, it is widely agreed that agribusiness's undeniable accomplishment of producing abundant and inexpensive food has been dearly paid for, even as the costs of this accomplishment have been deliberately dismissed or misrepresented as debatable by the agri-corporations which have profited most by the transformation. Indeed, in the last three decades, agribusiness has become the object of fierce criticism coming from all possible directions. The environmentalists denounce it as an arch-polluter of soil and water, a climate menace and a tamperer with evolution (Logsdon 2004: 162-168; Steinberg 2013: 274-277; Wirzba 2004: 13-14). Political commentators document multinational agri-corporations corrupting influence upon democratic processes and practices (Pollan 2016). Social analysts point out how industrial farming disrupts the very foundations of farming communities, eliminates the small family farm from the agribusiness-controlled market, and aggravates social problems in cities where the displaced farmers resettle (Orr 2004: 178-179; Major 2011: 5). Cultural critics cite industrial agriculture for destroying North American farming heritage, while informed consumers denounce Big Food for jeopardizing public health and – especially – for doing it in full knowledge of the scientifically documented evidence of the connection between factory food and a whole spectrum of diseases (Nestle 2007: 93-172). It is no wonder then that in the last three decades in the United States and Canada an entire culture of agricultural resistance has emerged which opposes the philosophy and practices of industrial farming. The movement's manifestations have been many: organic agriculture and urban gardening, the slow-food movement and the community supported agriculture movement (CSA), farmers’ markets and campaigns for GMO food-labeling, alternative schools of agri-science and institutions catering specifically to the needs of the small family farm (Logsdon 2017: 27-30; Major 2011: 1).

As it has so many times in the past, literature has again been in the vanguard of diagnosing this most recent of civilizational challenges and imagining ways to meet it. In the last three decades, several American and Canadian writers (Jane Smiley, Barbara Kingsolver, Judy Blunt, James Russell Sanders, Joel Salatin, Jonathan Foer, Rudi Wiebe, Sharon Butala, Jenna Butler) have turned to agrarian topics.