They’re quite the group, these experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Not a single humorous note throughout their publication. Always the same dull tone, like reading a police report. See for yourself: “There will be 2 billion more individuals on this planet in the next 30 years, and two out of three of them will live in an urban environment. In this context, it’s impossible to meet the needs of such a population without a modern and efficient agriculture, organic farming doesn’t seem to be a feasible alternative.”

There you go, Lafleur, write about whatever you want! A good way to avoid talking about the industrialization of agriculture and your mammoth cooperative. What about the environment? What about the destruction of the social fabric of rural communities? What about the dramatic decrease in the number of farmers? The loss of biodiversity?

I was just about to talk about that. Some quite credible studies conducted by distinguished biologists, such as Claude Villeneuve, from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, have demonstrated the absolute necessity of integrating into agriculture certain management practices and methods to reduce the impact on the environment and on rural societies1. And I quote: “there are too many of us around the dinner table to go back to organic agriculture or to subsistence farming. A return to the soil, with 6 billion people, is impossible”.

“At the same time, adds the professor, we’re seeing problems such as global warming, decreased biodiversity, a universal water crisis, contamination of the food chain (…). In fact, these threats grow as the world population grows”.

To feed this great population and maintain our ecosystems, we’ll have to adopt ‘greener’ technologies, practice a more sustainable agriculture, encourage the next generation to make sure the land is properly taken care of. But all this costs a lot of money, and with current market prices, most farmers just don’t have the motivation (or the time) to make this essential transition.

It’s hard to believe that society’s current trend in discourse, most notably our own, celebrates the proximity of agriculture, fair trade foods, fine cheeses and country fare. Fare that is obviously and increasingly accessible yet expensive and for which consumers – imbued with the Wal-Mart culture – are only purchasing an infinitely small quantity. Barely 2 % of the market.

The search for the lowest price has become common practice, even systematic, for a large portion of consumers. Even in Europe. Food is no longer a priority. Leisure and culture have taken precedence over food. We want to pay the lowest prices possible in order to buy something else.

Thus, the phenomenal and universal success of Wal-Mart. This rapidly growing company, the largest in the world, is buying from every country on the globe – from Brazil, from California, from New Zealand, from Israel – and at the best price possible. The company’s power to dictate its conditions, to introduce its private labels, to reduce the margins granted to processors and agricultural producers, is huge.

Committed citizens, this year’s militants, may protest, may propose to boycott, may expose the company’s purchasing policies and anti-union practices, but the parking lots surrounding these architecturally depressed stores abound with blissfully ignorant people on Friday nights, ready and willing to buy what’s on sale.

Faced with this sad reality – undoubtedly a dose of springtime blues – we also touch upon a troubling topic, the future of our agriculture. The Wal-Mart model has nothing to offer us, there will always be someone, somewhere on this planet, ready to produce at a lower cost. The ‘country’ model, although noble, is not better, because beyond a certain volume, and by becoming more ‘productive’ and more efficient, it would lose its identity and its production subsidies.

So? The solution is somewhere in between, within an agriculture that sticks its tongue out to the market’s brutal rules, reinforcing its management of supplies or increasing its strength through contractualization, and by merging with large cooperative organizations. The future will prove us right, you’ll see. I’ll be exploring this subject in future articles.