There is no sanctuary from corporate conglomeration, not even our food supply. A handful of corporations now own the majority of farms. Predictably, the profits are shuttled away from where they are created, and responsibility to the land and its people is absent. The benefits heralded by the corporations fall short of their claims. Pesticide and fertilizer use is up with little or no increased productivity. Topsoil is washing out to sea at alarming rates. Our monoculture food crops are becoming increasingly at risk of catastrophic loss. Sustainable agriculture is the antithesis of this corporate agribusiness and is ultimately about sustaining people, not profits.

John Ikerd
John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri, has written extensively on how sustainable farming practices affect and are affected by industrialization, the environment, economics, and communities. He now spends his time writing and speaking out on issues related to sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on the economics of sustainability.