AGRICULTURE	AGRIBUSINESS
Self-contained	Requires many outside inputs Fuel, fertilizer, insecticides, pesticides, equipment, food
Small scale 50 to 150 acres	Large Scale 300+ acres
Diverse	Monoculture
Lower "efficiency"	Vulnerable to pests, price fluctations
Low pollution	High pollution
Byproducts stay on farm	Runoff from fields, "wastes" accumulate
Many laborers	Few laborers
Maintains local culture	Destroys local culture High cancer and suicide rates
Sustainable	Nonsustainable
Maintains soil	"Mines soil"
Works with nature	Industrial Approach
Income remains local	Income centralized Guys in suits get most
Durable	Very vulnerable to disruptions Dependent on central facilities, transportation
Ignored by Res. Univ.'s	Supported by Res. Univ.'s
Ignored by USDA	USDA supported

Tens of millions of small farmers and farm laborers have lost their jobs due to decisions made by the federal government. This was no accident or unforseen consequence, the U.S. government undertook policies with the express purpose of forcing large numbers of people off small farms and towns and into cities and factories. The "menial" farm laborer jobs have been replaced partly by jobs in large food processing plants, many with atrocious work conditions, such as those found in chicken processing plants. Another goal in the industrialization of agriculture was to produce large surpluses with the intent of using the surpluses to compensate for the huge quanities of foreign goods that were being and are still being purchased by U.S. citizens. One part of this policy has been very successful, they have succeeded in destroying much of rural culture in the U.S. and there are fewer farmers every year. The other goal of using farm surpluses to bring down the balance of payments has been less successful. This is mainly because other countries have adopted the industrial approach to agriculture and have driven down prices to alltime lows and U.S. consumption seems to know no bounds.

Recent acquisitions of seed producers by chemical companies such as Monsanto, DuPont and Novartis have placed a substantial portion of the germplasm necessary to develop new crop varieties in the hands of a few very large and powerful corporations. These companies now control virtually all aspects of agribusiness with the exception of equipment production. They are in a position to force farmers to buy from them and grow the crops as proscribed by the company. Farmers may become little more than tenants who, while they own the land, do all the hard work and take all the financial risks, must operate their farms according to the dictates of these large corporations.