Fed by Subsidies, Consolidation Threatens Small US Farmers

Posted: 8 March 2007

Ken Gallaway of Texas may live thousands of miles apart from his fellow cotton farmers in Mali, but he has a lot in common with them: hopes for their kids, concerns for their communities,and problems with US farm subsidies.

"African and American farmers suffer from the same problem: low commodity prices," said Gallaway. "If we all received decent prices for the goods we produce we wouldn't even need a farm subsidy program."

What Gallaway was referring to is a system of government handouts that encourages US farmers to overproduce cotton, which in turn floods world markets with more than what's demanded. The effect is devastating for West African farmers, who don't receive government subsidies and have seen the price of their cotton harvests tumble.

Gallaway, too, is wrestling with the subsidy program. He says it punishes medium- and small-scale farmers like himself by rewarding big farms with big payments. It's squeezing out any newcomers, and threatening a whole way of life.

"I see how it's really hard for young people, unless they're born into farming, to get into farming. There is so much competition from the big farms," said Gallaway. "The current farm program is benefiting rich farmers who are only trying to get bigger."

Gallaway works a 625-acre farm near Lubbock—a farm he felt drawn to, even after launching a career as a certified public accountant. He toiled in that white-collar world for about 15 years. But when his father retired in his 70s, Gallaway couldn't resist the tug of the land, and took over the family farm. He hopes his three children, one of whom is in college, follow suit, as he deeply values the rural way of life.

But the question of subsidies looms large over the lifestyle he wants to preserve. Though Gallaway collects about $30,000 a year through the program, he said reforming the current subsidy program could slow some of the consolidation he fears.

"I just feel like the small farmer is worth preserving," he said. "I think a smaller cap would help. I don't know if it's the ultimate solution, but it would certainly discourage people from getting bigger and bigger just for the sake of owning more land."

Curtailing consolidation and overproduction would help African farmers, too. Their needs are greater than most Americans can imagine, as Gallaway found out on a recent trip to West Africa as part of a delegation sent by Oxfam.

Without revenue from cotton, farmers in Mali struggle to afford the basics, such as food and clothing, for their families. And their villages suffer when there is little money to pay for education, health care, or even clean drinking water.

"The poverty struck me the most because it is so widespread," said Gallaway. "There's just no comparison between living conditions in the US and in West Africa."