How Big Ag Distracts Farmers and Destroys Their Jobs
June 2024
“Farmers’ ire has been misdirected at meat alternatives, which still make up less than 2% of the total market for meat and alternatives. The narrative that the rise of veganism and alternative protein sources is to blame for farmer job losses is becoming increasingly prevalent. The real killer of farming jobs is not falling demand for animal products, but intensification. – Charlotte Flores
Farmers’ Discontent
Across Europe, farmers are protesting about the economic pressures they face. From tractors blocking roads in Germany and closing borders in Ukraine, to a multi-day siege in Paris, the farming crisis is impossible to ignore. While politicians and the meat lobby are rushing to blame meat alternatives, the evidence suggests that intensification — not meat alternatives — is the true cause of farming job losses.
The factors driving these frustrations vary, but there are some common themes. Profit margins are getting slimmer, subsidy and payment programs continuously favour large agri-businesses, cheap foreign imports are on the rise, and young people are less interested in going into or continuing farming.
All of this adds additional pressure to what is already an extremely difficult job. Farmers are inherently susceptible to unpredictable factors like extreme weather, which has been exacerbated by climate change. Furthermore, they are burdened by physically gruelling labour, and a growing mental health crisis. The last thing farmers need is to have their grievances weaponised to advance the interests of large agribusiness.
Scapegoating Meat Alternatives
The debate surrounding farmer concerns has been co-opted by large agribusinesses and directed towards meat alternatives. For example, Italy’s attempt at a pro-farming bill promised to place a country-wide ban on cultivated meat. But cultivated meat has not even been approved yet for sale in Europe, and has displaced precisely zero demand for conventional meat to date. Intensive farms are making life miserable for Europe’s farmers, and they are pointing the blame at products which do not yet even exist.
Farmers’ ire has been misdirected at meat alternatives, which still make up less than 2% of the total market for meat and alternatives. The narrative that the rise of veganism and alternative protein sources is to blame for farmer job losses is becoming increasingly prevalent.
In April of 2022, Arla Foods, the largest British dairy company launched a campaign to rally farmers, painting veganism as an “extremist lobby [that is] going to lead to the collapse of the dairy industry”. Furthermore, The Express published an article titled “vegan ‘beef’ threatens 1.5 million farming jobs as woke ditch meat to save planet”. The problem is that these stories are misguided. There’s evidence to show that meat and dairy reduction are not responsible for farmer job losses.
The Real Killer of Farming Jobs
The real killer of farming jobs is not falling demand for animal products, but intensification. The graphs below illustrate this well: as meat production increases, farming jobs decrease. This is a stark contrast to the view that farming job losses are linked to decreases in meat and dairy consumption. If this were the case we would see farming jobs going down as meat production goes down.
Source: Our World In Data based on International Labor Organization (via the World Bank) and FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products.
In fact, countries that have been subject to extreme intensification have also seen the largest losses in small-scale farms. In the 1970s, the US agricultural secretary promoted large-scale farming with the attitude “get big or get out”. Twenty years later in 1990, small and medium sized farms accounted for nearly half of all agricultural production in the US. Nowadays, overall farm production continues shifting to larger operations, with small commercial farms on a steady long-term decline.
Misleading Metrics
Agricultural data and classifications can also obscure the reality of small-scale farming – for example, the USDA’s definition of ‘small farms’—those making less than $350,000 annually—paints an overly optimistic picture of the viability of small-scale farming. In fact, data from 2010 revealed that 60% of farms classified as ‘small’ were earning less than $10,000, which is nowhere near the $350,000 threshold. This discrepancy raises questions about the accuracy and intention behind such classifications, especially when more recent income levels across farm sizes remain undisclosed.
In examining structural agricultural shifts, it’s also crucial to scrutinise the misleading terminology used to classify farms. The USDA classifies 98% of farms operating in the US as ‘family farms’ – a term that implies small-scale, traditional farming operations to the public. At closer look however, this classification is based on ownership structure rather than scale of operation. Farms where a single individual owns 50% of the business can seemingly still be classified as ‘family farms’. Note: The USDA’s criteria for farm classification are somewhat unclear. However, based on the provided information, it appears that a farm can be considered a family farm if a single individual owns at least 50% of it.
Such a classification system misleads consumers about the nature of agricultural production and undermines the genuine small-scale farmers the government claims to protect, by lumping them together with much larger operations.
Over the past 20 years USDA data shows a 50% increase of factory farmed animals in the US. In the UK this growth is also palpable, with over 1,099 US style mega-farms operating as of 2021.
It’s important to acknowledge the role of concentration when considering farm size. It is sometimes misleadingly stated that ‘most farms are small farms’ – but this does not imply that most animals are on small farms. For example, large farms in the US only make up 3% of all farms but account for 52% of total production value. This goes to show that even if a country really does have a higher proportion of small farms, that’s not to say the majority of animals farmed in that country are reared on small farms.
This should serve as a warning to countries outside the US in the midst of intensification. The narrative positioning vegans and alternative proteins as primary threats to small-scale farmers is a strategic deflection from the real issues of monopolisation and agricultural intensification. Ironically, those who vocally champion farmers simultaneously support policies and practices that exacerbate their marginalisation.
In promoting large-scale farming operations, these entities contribute to consolidating farming jobs into fewer hands and undermining the viability of small-scale farming. The struggles of small-scale farmers are effectively silenced, while public discourse is deliberately misdirected to food technologies which do not yet even exist, rather than focusing on the structural challenges within the agricultural sector that threaten their existence.
Farmers Deserve Better
A just transition to a plant-based food system would create more than enough jobs to offset meat and dairy industry losses. Not only could more jobs be created through an uptake in plant based eating, but the jobs created would likely be more desirable than those available in industrialised animal agriculture. Meat processors recruit from vulnerable communities and often provide minimal worker protections, and intensification has also changed the way these jobs are done. Workers are now forced to complete their tasks at speeds much faster than ever before, and farmers are pressured to scale up production in order to remain competitive. It is no wonder that many slaughterhouses have a staff turnover above 100%.
Not only are the jobs in industrialized animal agriculture increasingly difficult, they are also increasingly undesirable. People just don’t want to work in slaughterhouses, giving the meat processing industry abnormally high turnover rates. This has resulted in unconventional labour economics. Normally, a low supply of labour would cause wages to rise, but in simultaneously decreasing labour demand by intensifying and automating, wages remain low.
Attempts to scapegoat alternative proteins as the enemy of farmers are really a cover for the role that the rise of mega farms and the monopolisation of the meat and dairy industry plays in the job crisis. Whether intentional or not, this misplaced blame has provided ample ground for the unchecked monopolisation of the agricultural industry to the detriment of small farmers. It’s time to focus on intensification – the real cause of so many of farmers’ problems – and implement policies that are actually in the interest of small farmers, not megafarms.
