Moving Toward a Current Agrarian Reform
Consumers buying local produce in their communities are encouraging small farmers to aggregate crops responsibly and also keep local farmer markets. Farmers competing with larger non-local markets, and who lose their local farmer markets, experience the fight of accepting and rejecting current industrial change to their farms. Communities such as Port William, in Wendell Berry’s novel Jayber Crow, also experience a current agrarian change to their local market and society. To showcase how current reforms are degrading Port William, Berry crafts a hatred between two characters in Jayber Crow. Having Jayber Crow support traditionally local agrarian practices, and having Troy Cathman, support large current industrial and agrarian reforms, Berry highlights an existing difference in local and current agrarian ideology. Current-practiced agrarian reforms redistribute land ownership from large land holders to smaller farmers through promising to educate future farmers on environmentally safe farming, and bringing economic and social harmony to both communities and countries. Government backed programs currently run agrarian reforms that seize land within a defined boundary generally termed as Land Reform Areas or LRAs from larger farmers. Berry through Jayber and Troy’s hatred implies a belief that Troy is entitled to Athey Keith’s large amounts of land because Troy married Athey’s daughter Mattie. Troy obligates himself to make a profit at farming for his new family; Troy believes he doesn’t need Athey’s help but rather needs Athey’s land. According to Dr. Hans Meliczek, large agrarian reforms are: “measures that aim at changing power relations … by abolishing large landed property and the rural population … appeased and integrated into society” (Meliczek 3). Troy believes aggregating a large crop with industrial techniques on a designated Land Reform Area will produce ample income; yet after acquiring a small patch of Athey’s land, Troy profited only enough to pay off debts with a small profit. Troy uses his entitlement to force Athey into giving him more land so he can make more profit, but Troy never returns a large profit. In essence, Berry parallels how current agrarian reforms overreach in their predefined power of seizing and redistributing land to help farmers gain profits. Globally, current governments practice similarly demanding reforms with the promise to bring the rural class out of poverty. For example, in 2003, Madagascar seized land in a designated Land Reform Area to help their rural class grow. This should bring better equality to the country as it integrates the rural class with other classes, and it also allows larger amounts of people to work at once, thus growing their economy. Although, immediately “after the implementation of the reform … agricultural products declined … because the former landowning class ceases to provide the supporting services they used to furnish” (Meliczek 7); local business and consumers lose their supply …show more content…
Yet, small farmers entering the market are competing with other similar farmers. Through a constant under cutting of prices and usage of industrial machinery to increase profit margins, farmers create unstable markets. For example, many of the farmers in Jayber Crow gave up their traditional ways and migrated to industrial practice as a result of the economy dying; it promised them larger profits, but it also created a cheap surplus of goods that loses value when they do not sell and thus rot. In an interview with Berry’s daughter Marry, she notes how current agrarian reforms forget to set up necessary outlets for farmers to sell their produce to local business; this could be a solution to controlling levels of outputted produce (Collins 5). Yet, the overhaul of currently-practiced agrarian reforms on the economy, disrupt the socioeconomic relationship in …show more content…
As land is redistributed, certain Land Reform Areas are valued higher than others. For example, “Since about 46% of the land area identified for purchase is less than 10 kilometers away from communal areas” (Moyo, Sam, and Emmerson Zhou 12), the selection of farmers lead to land redistribution being unevenly allocated. The current officials decide on which farmers acquire what lands; with a priority toward current community members, outsiders face a difficulty in getting land. Similarly, underserving certain outside farmers in select districts means that productive individuals cannot practice environmentally safe farming and find “harmonious solutions” (“Solving for Pattern” 4) to an agricultural
Consumers buying local produce in their communities are encouraging small farmers to aggregate crops responsibly and also keep local farmer markets. Farmers competing with larger non-local markets, and who lose their local farmer markets, experience the fight of accepting and rejecting current industrial change to their farms. Communities such as Port William, in Wendell Berry’s novel Jayber Crow, also experience a current agrarian change to their local market and society. To showcase how current reforms are degrading Port William, Berry crafts a hatred between two characters in Jayber Crow. Having Jayber Crow support traditionally local agrarian practices, and having Troy Cathman, support large current industrial and agrarian reforms, Berry highlights an existing difference in local and current agrarian ideology. Current-practiced agrarian reforms redistribute land ownership from large land holders to smaller farmers through promising to educate future farmers on environmentally safe farming, and bringing economic and social harmony to both communities and countries. Government backed programs currently run agrarian reforms that seize land within a defined boundary generally termed as Land Reform Areas or LRAs from larger farmers. Berry through Jayber and Troy’s hatred implies a belief that Troy is entitled to Athey Keith’s large amounts of land because Troy married Athey’s daughter Mattie. Troy obligates himself to make a profit at farming for his new family; Troy believes he doesn’t need Athey’s help but rather needs Athey’s land. According to Dr. Hans Meliczek, large agrarian reforms are: “measures that aim at changing power relations … by abolishing large landed property and the rural population … appeased and integrated into society” (Meliczek 3). Troy believes aggregating a large crop with industrial techniques on a designated Land Reform Area will produce ample income; yet after acquiring a small patch of Athey’s land, Troy profited only enough to pay off debts with a small profit. Troy uses his entitlement to force Athey into giving him more land so he can make more profit, but Troy never returns a large profit. In essence, Berry parallels how current agrarian reforms overreach in their predefined power of seizing and redistributing land to help farmers gain profits. Globally, current governments practice similarly demanding reforms with the promise to bring the rural class out of poverty. For example, in 2003, Madagascar seized land in a designated Land Reform Area to help their rural class grow. This should bring better equality to the country as it integrates the rural class with other classes, and it also allows larger amounts of people to work at once, thus growing their economy. Although, immediately “after the implementation of the reform … agricultural products declined … because the former landowning class ceases to provide the supporting services they used to furnish” (Meliczek 7); local business and consumers lose their supply …show more content…
Yet, small farmers entering the market are competing with other similar farmers. Through a constant under cutting of prices and usage of industrial machinery to increase profit margins, farmers create unstable markets. For example, many of the farmers in Jayber Crow gave up their traditional ways and migrated to industrial practice as a result of the economy dying; it promised them larger profits, but it also created a cheap surplus of goods that loses value when they do not sell and thus rot. In an interview with Berry’s daughter Marry, she notes how current agrarian reforms forget to set up necessary outlets for farmers to sell their produce to local business; this could be a solution to controlling levels of outputted produce (Collins 5). Yet, the overhaul of currently-practiced agrarian reforms on the economy, disrupt the socioeconomic relationship in …show more content…
As land is redistributed, certain Land Reform Areas are valued higher than others. For example, “Since about 46% of the land area identified for purchase is less than 10 kilometers away from communal areas” (Moyo, Sam, and Emmerson Zhou 12), the selection of farmers lead to land redistribution being unevenly allocated. The current officials decide on which farmers acquire what lands; with a priority toward current community members, outsiders face a difficulty in getting land. Similarly, underserving certain outside farmers in select districts means that productive individuals cannot practice environmentally safe farming and find “harmonious solutions” (“Solving for Pattern” 4) to an agricultural