00:00:03.540 --> 00:00:08.320
In the year 205, there will
be 9 billion people.

00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.580
How do we feed them safely,
fairly, and well, and make

00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:14.333
sure every mouth is fed?

00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:35.160
Narrator: Big skies, big
farms, big country.

00:00:35.160 --> 00:00:37.340
Nebraska, heartland
of the USA.

00:00:40.160 --> 00:00:44.050
But is big the best way
to feed the world?

00:00:44.050 --> 00:00:47.200
In Nebraska, three cows
for every human.

00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.470
Beef here a $6 billion
a year business.

00:00:51.470 --> 00:00:54.870
In Nebraska, you'd expect
everyone to think big.

00:00:54.870 --> 00:00:58.470
It's the American dream.

00:00:58.470 --> 00:01:00.960
Now, meet Ron Meyer.

00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.760
He's the kind of guy you might
expect to support Big

00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:05.910
Agribusiness or Big
Capitalism.

00:01:05.910 --> 00:01:09.040
But Ron is an angry man.

00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.540
- Big Ag is squeezing
the smaller

00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:13.640
farmers out all the time.

00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:16.140
They have been for my
whole lifetime.

00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:18.840
And it's just kind of
accelerated more

00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:20.540
in the last 20 years.

00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:24.210
At least in this country, and
in this part of the nation,

00:01:24.210 --> 00:01:26.240
that's happened.

00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:28.550
There's no co-existence
anymore.

00:01:28.550 --> 00:01:32.320
I mean, the big farmers are
looking to buy the small

00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:34.560
farmer out right now.

00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.090
Narrator: Ron believes small
farmers like him can feed

00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:39.720
America and feed the world.

00:01:39.720 --> 00:01:45.400
- If there's profitability in
whatever you're raising, you

00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:49.870
can feed the world with
smaller farmers.

00:01:49.870 --> 00:01:52.260
Narrator: But is Ron right?

00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:54.010
He's part of a global debate.

00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.370
Narrator: Here in the American
heartland, the battle against

00:02:04.370 --> 00:02:08.479
Big Ag is being fought not by
slow food hippies, but a

00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:10.360
Vietnam vet, Ron Meyer.

00:02:16.310 --> 00:02:18.940
Ron has just 400 acres --

00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:20.600
that's small around here --

00:02:20.600 --> 00:02:28.520
and 40 cattle.

00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:34.980
- For me, I guess it's just
being and knowing your animals

00:02:34.980 --> 00:02:37.540
and knowing the land that
you're farming.

00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:44.640
Big scale, I mean, they hardly
ever walk their land.

00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:48.760
They don't know the animals
as individuals.

00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:51.248
They're just numbers.

00:02:51.248 --> 00:02:53.718
Now, she just had a calf.

00:02:53.718 --> 00:02:56.690
That's the one that had
a calf yesterday.

00:02:56.690 --> 00:02:57.370
And her calf is laying there.

00:02:57.370 --> 00:02:58.415
And if you'd walk towards
her calf, she'd

00:02:58.415 --> 00:03:01.980
probably charge you.

00:03:01.980 --> 00:03:03.200
They're very maternalistic.

00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:07.110
They don't like people
around their calves.

00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:12.840
Small Ag would tend focus on a
family-sized operation where

00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.030
the family provided all the
labor and reaped all the

00:03:16.030 --> 00:03:20.506
benefits, where Big Ag is the
survival of the fittest.

00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:28.150
It's not in everyone's
self-interest to just have a

00:03:28.150 --> 00:03:33.050
few people monopolize
the food industry.

00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:35.300
Narrator: Ron's turned himself
into an investigative

00:03:35.300 --> 00:03:38.220
journalist, writing on the
dangers of small farms

00:03:38.220 --> 00:03:42.220
becoming like serfs to Big
Ag's feudal lords, whose

00:03:42.220 --> 00:03:44.890
domination of the land
is unsustainable.

00:03:44.890 --> 00:03:47.510
- You have to become more
politically engaged.

00:03:47.510 --> 00:03:55.140
You have to be more aware of the
people who are in charge

00:03:55.140 --> 00:03:58.920
now, the banks and
the corporations.

00:03:58.920 --> 00:04:01.310
Narrator: Ron's arguments
against Big Ag and the way

00:04:01.310 --> 00:04:05.440
it's run echo by some globally
known writers on food and

00:04:05.440 --> 00:04:07.360
social justice.

00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.030
- When you look at the United
States, you'll see that it's

00:04:10.030 --> 00:04:12.120
an industrial agricultural
powerhouse.

00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:13.790
It's one of the world's
largest exporters

00:04:13.790 --> 00:04:16.269
of commodity crops.

00:04:16.269 --> 00:04:20.320
And that has been bought
by a range of things.

00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:24.460
I mean, you have huge farms
here, massive farms that

00:04:24.460 --> 00:04:26.610
stretch as far as
the eye can see.

00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:30.410
And the way that those farms
are economically viable is

00:04:30.410 --> 00:04:33.090
because of a sort of mixture
of government support and

00:04:33.090 --> 00:04:37.030
subsidy and a kind of
outsourcing of the

00:04:37.030 --> 00:04:40.070
environmental costs of farming
in that particular way.

00:04:40.070 --> 00:04:45.770
So you're creating a model of
agriculture that's driven by

00:04:45.770 --> 00:04:49.170
an export economy, that depends
on vast amounts of

00:04:49.170 --> 00:04:55.150
cheap fossil fuels and on
predictable rainfall and on a

00:04:55.150 --> 00:04:57.840
soil base and soil fertility
that is being

00:04:57.840 --> 00:04:59.940
plundered at the moment.

00:04:59.940 --> 00:05:02.570
And as the drought in the
Midwest in the United States

00:05:02.570 --> 00:05:06.110
has shown, that model of farming
is pretty precarious.

00:05:06.110 --> 00:05:08.700
I mean, when it works
well, it seems to

00:05:08.700 --> 00:05:09.920
work very well indeed.

00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.900
But it has significant
environmental

00:05:11.900 --> 00:05:13.150
costs and it's fragile.

00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:20.010
Narrator: So now say hello
to Big Ag, the annual

00:05:20.010 --> 00:05:23.660
get-together of the Nebraska
beef industry, the Cuming

00:05:23.660 --> 00:05:25.280
County banquet.

00:05:25.280 --> 00:05:27.055
- Last year at this
time, about-- what

00:05:27.055 --> 00:05:27.990
do you think, Joe?--

00:05:27.990 --> 00:05:30.830
10 or 15 minutes before we were
supposed to cut meat,

00:05:30.830 --> 00:05:31.760
didn't have any knives.

00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:33.390
Everybody forget to
get the knives.

00:05:33.390 --> 00:05:35.940
For the first two seconds,
it was total chaos.

00:05:40.610 --> 00:05:43.620
- We are set up to
have 600 people.

00:05:43.620 --> 00:05:48.110
But with the weather, I have a
feeling there's going to be--

00:05:48.110 --> 00:05:50.900
we're hoping still to
get 400 to 500.

00:05:50.900 --> 00:05:55.380
I still think we might have
10% to 20% no-shows.

00:05:55.380 --> 00:05:57.200
But the diehards will
still show up.

00:05:59.950 --> 00:06:01.384
- That's a knife,
I'll tell you.

00:06:01.384 --> 00:06:02.820
- That's a good knife.

00:06:02.820 --> 00:06:06.340
Narrator: These are the Big Ag
diehards, some of the biggest

00:06:06.340 --> 00:06:09.650
players in the meat industry
in Nebraska, from ranches

00:06:09.650 --> 00:06:12.760
through to meat packers
and distributors.

00:06:12.760 --> 00:06:16.140
The big topic of their annual
get-together, how to deal with

00:06:16.140 --> 00:06:18.140
the lobby for government
intervention

00:06:18.140 --> 00:06:19.505
from small-scale farmers.

00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:27.480
- We're all in this together.

00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:29.810
You know, we're a big industry,
but there's

00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:30.523
not a lot of us.

00:06:30.523 --> 00:06:34.160
That includes the ranchers,
the feedlot operators, the

00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:38.360
packers and processors, the
purveyors, the retailers.

00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:40.790
We've got to work together
because we've got a lot of

00:06:40.790 --> 00:06:43.700
people out there working
against us...

00:06:43.700 --> 00:06:45.810
Narrator: Big Ag on
the defensive.

00:06:45.810 --> 00:06:48.550
Around here, they believe
it's Small Ag whose

00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:50.800
glory days are over.

00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:52.540
- Things have changed.

00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:57.590
You just can't do things
like you used to do it.

00:06:57.590 --> 00:06:59.240
I can give you numerous
examples.

00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:02.070
I used to have a neighbor that
had a quarter section of land

00:07:02.070 --> 00:07:04.750
and that's what he and his
wife lived on, made all

00:07:04.750 --> 00:07:06.410
their living on.

00:07:06.410 --> 00:07:09.790
Now, you just can't
do it that way.

00:07:09.790 --> 00:07:12.410
The prices, the cost of things,
the equipment, the

00:07:12.410 --> 00:07:15.560
machinery, it's just
not feasible.

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.150
Narrator: The Weborgs are now
among the biggest cattle

00:07:27.150 --> 00:07:35.440
ranches in Nebraska, with over
2,500 acres and 17,000 cattle.

00:07:35.440 --> 00:07:38.340
- My great-grandparents and my
grandparents when they were

00:07:38.340 --> 00:07:42.110
young came over here
as immigrants.

00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:45.940
And then they came to Nebraska
and homesteaded in an area

00:07:45.940 --> 00:07:48.740
just a couple miles away
from the feedlot here.

00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:54.650
And our family has been in
this area ever since.

00:07:54.650 --> 00:07:57.630
Narrator: Using Big Ag economies
of scale, the

00:07:57.630 --> 00:08:00.390
Weborgs are now able to invest
in state-of-the-art

00:08:00.390 --> 00:08:01.590
technology.

00:08:01.590 --> 00:08:08.150
- Each truck has the ingredients
and the pounds for

00:08:08.150 --> 00:08:10.630
several pens of cattle that
are loaded on it.

00:08:10.630 --> 00:08:13.940
And the feed truck driver
weighs out specific

00:08:13.940 --> 00:08:16.800
pounds to each pen.

00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:21.310
And that is wirelessly
transmitted to our office

00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:25.810
where it goes into our cattle
program and billing system.

00:08:25.810 --> 00:08:27.480
Narrator: Small versus big.

00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:29.650
It is a global debate.

00:08:29.650 --> 00:08:33.809
And Kent reckons he knows
whose side history's on.

00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:38.720
- I think the trend is
for more farms and

00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.289
the farms to be larger.

00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:45.670
Narrator: The tension between
Big and Small Ag in America

00:08:45.670 --> 00:08:49.230
and across the world was
investigated in a special UN

00:08:49.230 --> 00:08:52.550
report on the right to food.

00:08:52.550 --> 00:08:55.620
- There is a tension between
small-scale farming and

00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:58.060
large-scale agro-industrial
farming.

00:08:58.060 --> 00:09:01.530
Large-scale farms are
more competitive.

00:09:01.530 --> 00:09:04.980
They are able to send food at
lower prices on markets

00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:07.140
because they do achieve
economies of scale which are

00:09:07.140 --> 00:09:09.800
difficult to achieve when
you're a small farm.

00:09:09.800 --> 00:09:12.600
But small farms deliver a number
of services for which

00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:14.050
they should be rewarded.

00:09:14.050 --> 00:09:16.040
They are better at managing
the ecosystems.

00:09:16.040 --> 00:09:17.730
They are usually more
efficient in

00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:19.270
using the natural resources.

00:09:19.270 --> 00:09:21.660
And there are many studies
showing that the smaller the

00:09:21.660 --> 00:09:25.690
farm, the more productive
it is per hectare.

00:09:25.690 --> 00:09:28.840
They need to be better organized
in order to achieve

00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:31.740
some of the benefits of the
large-scale enterprises.

00:09:31.740 --> 00:09:34.380
But small-scale farming is quite
essential in a world of

00:09:34.380 --> 00:09:35.630
scarce resources.

00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:41.140
Narrator: It's in Washington,
DC, where the Big versus Small

00:09:41.140 --> 00:09:43.660
Ag battle is fought
politically.

00:09:43.660 --> 00:09:46.430
John Hansen organizes
small-scale farmers and

00:09:46.430 --> 00:09:50.460
Nebraska and represents
them to Congress.

00:09:50.460 --> 00:09:54.330
- My goal is to try to help
create a level playing field

00:09:54.330 --> 00:09:56.530
for family farmers
and ranchers.

00:09:56.530 --> 00:09:58.430
We're not asking for
special treatment.

00:09:58.430 --> 00:10:02.040
We're just asking for
fair treatment.

00:10:02.040 --> 00:10:02.760
Oh, we've got to go
to the north door.

00:10:02.760 --> 00:10:04.860
Narrator: It's politicians
who mediate between

00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:06.790
Big and Small Ag.

00:10:06.790 --> 00:10:10.890
In the USA, that's via a Farm
Bill passed every five years,

00:10:10.890 --> 00:10:12.510
like this year.

00:10:12.510 --> 00:10:15.500
John wants better protection
for small farmers.

00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:18.450
He says big ag monopolies
are distorting

00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:21.300
markets across the world.

00:10:21.300 --> 00:10:25.282
- I'm going to talk to my home
congressman about the farm

00:10:25.282 --> 00:10:26.930
bill, what he's hearing
about it.

00:10:26.930 --> 00:10:30.940
And we're going to break apart
all of the different pieces of

00:10:30.940 --> 00:10:33.840
it and try to see if there's
any of those pieces that he

00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:38.440
might be able to help us
get moved forward.

00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:39.480
- What's your first name?

00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:40.624
- John.

00:10:40.624 --> 00:10:41.058
- Last name?

00:10:41.058 --> 00:10:43.960
- Hansen, H-A-N-S-E-N.

00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:48.280
I've been doing farm bills
ever since 1972.

00:10:48.280 --> 00:10:50.250
I never give up.

00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:52.420
I never quit.

00:10:52.420 --> 00:10:54.670
And I never take a hard no.

00:10:54.670 --> 00:10:57.440
I just keep working.

00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:58.790
It's what I do.

00:10:58.790 --> 00:11:00.900
Let's see.

00:11:00.900 --> 00:11:04.450
The farmer's share of the
food dollar has shrunk

00:11:04.450 --> 00:11:09.680
significantly in the last 30
years as we have seen the

00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:13.360
proliferation of less
competition.

00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.620
And as we get fewer and fewer
corporations, we see more and

00:11:16.620 --> 00:11:19.320
more marketplace manipulation.

00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:25.080
And we see any economies of
scale being offset by just

00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:30.220
good old plain price gouging and
profit taking that goes on

00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:30.800
when you have a

00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:33.428
non-competitive marketing system.

00:11:33.428 --> 00:11:33.912
Yes.

00:11:33.912 --> 00:11:34.880
Let me out.

00:11:34.880 --> 00:11:36.816
Let me out so you can go in.

00:11:36.816 --> 00:11:38.066
Yes.

00:11:42.624 --> 00:11:46.510
I met with his staff, with his
legislative assistant.

00:11:46.510 --> 00:11:49.280
And we went over all of
the particulars of

00:11:49.280 --> 00:11:53.420
both policy and process.

00:11:53.420 --> 00:11:56.960
It was a very positive
meeting.

00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.940
Governmental regulation is the
key to competition, because if

00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:06.870
truth be told, companies don't
really want competition.

00:12:06.870 --> 00:12:09.940
They want to get rid of
competition, develop market

00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:14.650
share, and milk the advantages
of a non-competitive market

00:12:14.650 --> 00:12:17.710
with their few remaining
partners.

00:12:17.710 --> 00:12:20.250
The biggest single problem
that we have now

00:12:20.250 --> 00:12:22.650
in hunger is poverty.

00:12:22.650 --> 00:12:25.650
It is not the amount
of food production.

00:12:25.650 --> 00:12:28.820
And so let's not hide
behind different

00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:32.070
kinds of fears or phobias.

00:12:32.070 --> 00:12:34.880
Let's talk about how we develop
a more economically

00:12:34.880 --> 00:12:37.100
beneficial and sustainable
food production

00:12:37.100 --> 00:12:39.795
system in the world.

00:12:39.795 --> 00:12:42.440
Narrator: In a Washington cafe,
a chance for Nebraska's

00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:45.910
small farmers' leader to
globalize his arguments.

00:12:45.910 --> 00:12:48.770
Nobel laureate Mohan Munasinghe
has researched

00:12:48.770 --> 00:12:53.210
whether big or small farms are
best placed to feed the world.

00:12:53.210 --> 00:12:54.310
- Shall we order first?

00:12:54.310 --> 00:12:55.250
Yeah.

00:12:55.250 --> 00:12:57.460
- Iced tea for me, please.

00:12:57.460 --> 00:12:58.710
- Just water is all.

00:13:00.770 --> 00:13:04.040
The pendulum should not
swing too far in favor

00:13:04.040 --> 00:13:05.200
of the large farms.

00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.790
They have certain advantages.

00:13:06.790 --> 00:13:11.645
But the large agribusinesses
are using world conditions,

00:13:11.645 --> 00:13:14.550
the price volatility,
the economic

00:13:14.550 --> 00:13:17.100
collapse, climate change.

00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:20.800
And all the problems which are
squeezing out small farmers

00:13:20.800 --> 00:13:24.780
are being used by large
agribusinesses to

00:13:24.780 --> 00:13:26.620
expand their role.

00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:29.540
I mean, this is a
natural thing.

00:13:29.540 --> 00:13:31.780
Any large business
would do that.

00:13:31.780 --> 00:13:35.260
So I think it is very important
for governments to

00:13:35.260 --> 00:13:37.920
find the right balance,
which will vary

00:13:37.920 --> 00:13:41.050
from country to country.

00:13:41.050 --> 00:13:44.490
You have a general problem
which is global.

00:13:44.490 --> 00:13:47.410
But the solutions have
to be local.

00:13:47.410 --> 00:13:50.680
And this is where the big and
the small have to be brought

00:13:50.680 --> 00:13:56.595
into balance, because you need
bigger entities, maybe it

00:13:56.595 --> 00:14:00.190
could be governments, it could
be big companies, who have a

00:14:00.190 --> 00:14:03.310
bigger perspective from a
global point of view.

00:14:03.310 --> 00:14:06.650
But you need the small
businesses, the small

00:14:06.650 --> 00:14:10.740
operators, and the small
communities, who have to act

00:14:10.740 --> 00:14:14.765
locally in terms of the
local conditions.

00:14:14.765 --> 00:14:17.760
Narrator: But Big Ag fears
regulations that help small

00:14:17.760 --> 00:14:21.440
farmers can interfere with the
free market that's helped the

00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:24.910
US become the world's biggest
cattle and grain exporter.

00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.500
It's Big Government, says Big
Ag, which will stop us feeding

00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:36.760
the future.

00:14:36.760 --> 00:14:39.760
- I believe in capitalism.

00:14:39.760 --> 00:14:41.700
You cannot manipulate
the markets.

00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:44.590
That's what true
capitalism is.

00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:47.540
The thing we've got to watch out
is over-regulation by our

00:14:47.540 --> 00:14:51.490
government that would stifle
our productivity.

00:14:51.490 --> 00:14:53.820
You know, the government should
not prevent you from

00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:54.770
being successful.

00:14:54.770 --> 00:14:58.380
And it should not prevent you
from failing, either.

00:14:58.380 --> 00:15:01.720
And I think a lot of people want
to have a government that

00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:03.830
prevents some people
from failing.

00:15:03.830 --> 00:15:05.420
I don't believe in that.

00:15:05.420 --> 00:15:09.270
It's a matter of keeping up and
changing and being more

00:15:09.270 --> 00:15:10.390
productive.

00:15:10.390 --> 00:15:11.640
It's evolution.

00:15:15.770 --> 00:15:19.260
Narrator: Big Ag employs
lobbyists like Justin Wilson.

00:15:19.260 --> 00:15:21.660
He's from a small Midwest
farm himself.

00:15:21.660 --> 00:15:24.200
But he says the days of
small farms feeding

00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:26.930
the world are limited.

00:15:26.930 --> 00:15:28.500
- The number of farmers in the
United States is shrinking

00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:29.490
dramatically.

00:15:29.490 --> 00:15:30.370
We are getting more efficient.

00:15:30.370 --> 00:15:32.620
We're keeping food affordable.

00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:35.720
And we're doing that through
innovation and continuing a

00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.170
long trend of research.

00:15:38.170 --> 00:15:40.820
And so I think people are going
to have to understand

00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:44.410
that in order for us to keep
feeding the world, because

00:15:44.410 --> 00:15:47.060
it's important obviously, that
we're going to have to come to

00:15:47.060 --> 00:15:50.410
terms with this idea that not
everything that we eat is

00:15:50.410 --> 00:15:54.340
going to be every morning have
the farmer wake up every

00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:56.920
morning and pet it and give it a
hug and touch it and make it

00:15:56.920 --> 00:15:59.030
feel good, because that is-- we
don't have enough people.

00:15:59.030 --> 00:16:00.280
We don't have enough land.

00:16:11.680 --> 00:16:14.960
Narrator: But for small farmers
like Ron, Big Ag

00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.970
offers the consumer less choice,
putting corporate

00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:21.620
profit before consumer
interests.

00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:25.750
- Big Ag will say "well,
consumers have a choice.

00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:29.660
They can either buy from the
small producer." But a lot of

00:16:29.660 --> 00:16:33.560
the people who don't have the
money, they buy food the

00:16:33.560 --> 00:16:35.530
cheapest way they can.

00:16:35.530 --> 00:16:37.500
But it's not always the
healthiest food.

00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:42.980
And so that's what leads to the
obesity and diabetes and

00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:44.550
all those issues.

00:16:44.550 --> 00:16:47.060
Narrator: In a globalized
world, Ron knows the Big

00:16:47.060 --> 00:16:51.190
versus Small Ag debate echoes
way beyond Nebraska.

00:16:51.190 --> 00:16:55.370
He's offering a new piece
to the local paper.

00:16:55.370 --> 00:16:57.840
- If Ron Meyer were to write
a letter and it was about

00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:01.260
globalization and agriculture,
we'd certainly consider it.

00:17:01.260 --> 00:17:04.170
I mean, global markets are...

00:17:04.170 --> 00:17:05.800
that's just agriculture today.

00:17:05.800 --> 00:17:10.010
And what farmers in other
countries are doing affects

00:17:10.010 --> 00:17:13.290
what farmers in Nebraska
are doing.

00:17:13.290 --> 00:17:15.930
Narrator: Ron's discovering the
world's small farms are

00:17:15.930 --> 00:17:18.380
more important than
he'd thought.

00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:23.339
Over 2.5 billion people, or 40%
of the world's population,

00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:27.530
work on small farms, most
working on farms far smaller

00:17:27.530 --> 00:17:30.220
than Ron's 400 acres.

00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:34.070
Ron's contacting IFAD, the UN
agency assisting small-scale

00:17:34.070 --> 00:17:36.400
farmers at their country
office in

00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.388
Cameroon, West Africa.

00:17:39.388 --> 00:17:41.240
- Are you seeing us?

00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:43.401
- I am now, yes, very much so.

00:17:43.401 --> 00:17:44.040
OK.

00:17:44.040 --> 00:17:45.485
- Can you see us very well?

00:17:45.485 --> 00:17:45.980
- Yes, I can.

00:17:45.980 --> 00:17:49.120
I can see you very
well now, yes.

00:17:49.120 --> 00:17:50.030
- And this is Nadine.

00:17:50.030 --> 00:17:50.550
Hi.

00:17:50.550 --> 00:17:51.000
- Nadine.

00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:51.360
Hi.

00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:51.920
Hi.

00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.848
- And this is Valantine.

00:17:53.848 --> 00:17:55.294
- This is Valantine.

00:17:55.294 --> 00:17:56.450
- From Cameroon.

00:17:56.450 --> 00:17:57.060
- OK.

00:17:57.060 --> 00:17:59.780
This is Ron.

00:17:59.780 --> 00:18:04.850
I was wondering in a growing
global population with 9

00:18:04.850 --> 00:18:08.040
billion people, can
the small farmer--

00:18:08.040 --> 00:18:11.270
do you feel that the small
farmer is the best way to feed

00:18:11.270 --> 00:18:14.030
that growing population?

00:18:14.030 --> 00:18:14.620
- Oh, yes.

00:18:14.620 --> 00:18:19.310
I think that you will
understand, we small farmers

00:18:19.310 --> 00:18:22.020
can really feed the population,
because you know

00:18:22.020 --> 00:18:26.680
that big farms, they always do
on what we call cash crop that

00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:29.220
are farms that are used
to export products.

00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:33.510
But if you look at small farms,
they are there to feed

00:18:33.510 --> 00:18:34.322
the population.

00:18:34.322 --> 00:18:37.800
You know, our country is not
very different from what you

00:18:37.800 --> 00:18:41.570
people have in USA, because
farmers are the same all over.

00:18:41.570 --> 00:18:46.090
In our country, you know, most
of the time, especially this

00:18:46.090 --> 00:18:48.620
middlemen that they call "buy
'em, sell 'em", that is the

00:18:48.620 --> 00:18:52.030
people who come and buy from the
farm and go and sell, they

00:18:52.030 --> 00:18:55.460
make a lot of money, because
farmers, small farmers, are

00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:57.510
not informed about the price.

00:18:57.510 --> 00:18:59.790
Small farmers don't have the
means of transportation.

00:18:59.790 --> 00:19:03.600
So they rely totally
on middlemen...

00:19:03.600 --> 00:19:08.160
Narrator: Ron learns Cameroon
still relies on small farmers.

00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.830
But he's surprised to hear
they're just as concerned they

00:19:10.830 --> 00:19:14.018
get a raw deal from
the system.

00:19:14.018 --> 00:19:15.010
- Ron?

00:19:15.010 --> 00:19:16.002
- Yes.

00:19:16.002 --> 00:19:17.490
- It's a challenge.

00:19:17.490 --> 00:19:22.450
The main issue we are facing
is basically most of the

00:19:22.450 --> 00:19:24.930
production usually doesn't
go to the market.

00:19:24.930 --> 00:19:25.922
It gets wasted.

00:19:25.922 --> 00:19:29.394
Basically, they have issues
of storage infrastructure.

00:19:29.394 --> 00:19:32.370
They have issues of marketing
infrastructure.

00:19:32.370 --> 00:19:35.230
They have issues of roads to
get to the main market.

00:19:35.230 --> 00:19:37.915
So it is a big issue.

00:19:37.915 --> 00:19:41.952
And it's also defeating for
farmers not to be able to get

00:19:41.952 --> 00:19:43.150
their production
to the market.

00:19:43.150 --> 00:19:47.560
So this requires government
policing, government

00:19:47.560 --> 00:19:50.990
investment, because it goes
beyond the farmers and we are

00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:52.960
talking of community and
national investment.

00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:53.190
- Yeah.

00:19:53.190 --> 00:19:57.270
I think what you said earlier
about the middlemen taking a

00:19:57.270 --> 00:20:00.560
lot of the profits away and
trying to direct market,

00:20:00.560 --> 00:20:02.820
that's the same problems
we face here in the

00:20:02.820 --> 00:20:04.450
United States too.

00:20:04.450 --> 00:20:07.070
So I think we have very
similar problems.

00:20:07.070 --> 00:20:11.117
After talking to these small
farmers in the Cameroon, I can

00:20:11.117 --> 00:20:16.210
see that the whole concept of
globalization that American

00:20:16.210 --> 00:20:21.650
farmers are indoctrinated with
is a myth, because we cannot

00:20:21.650 --> 00:20:22.900
feed the world.

00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:26.070
The only people that can feed
the world is the small farmers

00:20:26.070 --> 00:20:30.950
within their own countries
who produce food that

00:20:30.950 --> 00:20:32.800
local people eat.

00:20:32.800 --> 00:20:38.350
And I guess my article, I would
like to reiterate that

00:20:38.350 --> 00:20:45.560
and somehow try to convince our
own farmers that it's in

00:20:45.560 --> 00:20:52.440
everyone's best interest to
produce locally and not always

00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:53.610
think about globally.

00:20:53.610 --> 00:20:57.820
- If we leave it to the market
forces, if states do not make

00:20:57.820 --> 00:21:00.680
it a priority to support small
farms, small farms will be

00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.000
gradually wiped out, simply
because they are less

00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:03.950
competitive.

00:21:03.950 --> 00:21:07.300
They are less good at capturing
markets because they

00:21:07.300 --> 00:21:12.620
produce at a higher cost
whatever they can produce for

00:21:12.620 --> 00:21:13.330
the markets.

00:21:13.330 --> 00:21:16.220
And so it's very important
that we are aware of the

00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:20.050
positive externalities, the
benefits, that small farms

00:21:20.050 --> 00:21:24.080
have and produce, and that we
support them for the services

00:21:24.080 --> 00:21:25.330
that they deliver.

00:21:31.810 --> 00:21:35.110
Narrator: Studies show that
between 50% and 70% of the

00:21:35.110 --> 00:21:38.360
world's population are
fed by small farmers.

00:21:38.360 --> 00:21:40.850
So who does the research
suggest should

00:21:40.850 --> 00:21:43.130
be feeding the future?

00:21:43.130 --> 00:21:46.440
- One of the big questions
in the world is how much

00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:50.990
indigenous or local farmers can
feed broader populations.

00:21:50.990 --> 00:21:52.620
There's been a lot of
research on this.

00:21:52.620 --> 00:21:54.180
And there's open debate
about it.

00:21:54.180 --> 00:21:58.000
Some companies and some other
individuals in agricultural

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:01.080
research think that it's only
the large-scale farming that

00:22:01.080 --> 00:22:02.490
can feed the world.

00:22:02.490 --> 00:22:04.610
But there are a number of
studies that show that smaller

00:22:04.610 --> 00:22:07.960
scale farming can feed
a larger area.

00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:11.020
Narrator: If small farms do
offer an alternative, some

00:22:11.020 --> 00:22:13.740
experts say they'll have to
develop new techniques and

00:22:13.740 --> 00:22:15.690
values of their own.

00:22:15.690 --> 00:22:19.030
It's what small farmers in the
agro-ecology movement are

00:22:19.030 --> 00:22:20.680
trying to do.

00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:24.150
- Agro-ecology is an attempt to
use ecological methods to

00:22:24.150 --> 00:22:26.030
produce food products.

00:22:26.030 --> 00:22:29.580
It uses multiple inputs, but
they're natural inputs.

00:22:29.580 --> 00:22:33.060
It uses not mono-crops,
but poly-crops.

00:22:33.060 --> 00:22:35.910
The future of farming I think
has a number of trajectories.

00:22:35.910 --> 00:22:40.140
One of those would be this
more holistic attempt and

00:22:40.140 --> 00:22:44.030
interest by people to be part
of a community that is

00:22:44.030 --> 00:22:46.460
biodiverse, that produces
complicated foods, that

00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:47.693
produces good food.

00:22:47.693 --> 00:22:51.004
- NTV, central and western
Nebraska's most-watched

00:22:51.004 --> 00:22:52.423
evening news.

00:22:52.423 --> 00:22:56.250
This is NTV News at 6:00.

00:22:56.250 --> 00:22:57.955
- From London to central
Nebraska.

00:22:57.955 --> 00:23:00.010
An international film
crew shines a

00:23:00.010 --> 00:23:01.973
spotlight on a local ranch.

00:23:06.810 --> 00:23:10.130
Narrator: Nebraska farmer Kevin
Fulton didn't always

00:23:10.130 --> 00:23:11.630
cuddle chickens.

00:23:11.630 --> 00:23:14.670
He's a former heavyweight
wrestler, now a

00:23:14.670 --> 00:23:16.810
medium-sized farmer.

00:23:16.810 --> 00:23:20.650
He and Ron are coming to grips
with agro-ecology.

00:23:20.650 --> 00:23:23.790
Like Vietnam vet Ron, Kevin's
hardly a hippie.

00:23:23.790 --> 00:23:28.750
But he is proving a successful
alternative farmer.

00:23:28.750 --> 00:23:31.460
- People think of big industrial
agriculture as

00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:32.430
intensive agriculture.

00:23:32.430 --> 00:23:35.810
But what we're doing here
is way more intensive.

00:23:35.810 --> 00:23:38.810
We can raise, we can produce
just as much livestock running

00:23:38.810 --> 00:23:41.810
along pasture systems
as we can in these

00:23:41.810 --> 00:23:42.840
huge confinement systems.

00:23:42.840 --> 00:23:43.770
It's going to take more land.

00:23:43.770 --> 00:23:46.110
It's going to take a different
mindset, of course.

00:23:46.110 --> 00:23:50.740
But we produce an incredible
amount of food

00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:51.740
right here on my farm.

00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:54.468
And we don't put animals
in cages or crates.

00:23:54.468 --> 00:23:54.952
- Hey.

00:23:54.952 --> 00:23:55.920
- Howdy.

00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:57.860
- How's it going?

00:23:57.860 --> 00:23:59.025
- On our farm, we don't
bring in manures

00:23:59.025 --> 00:23:59.950
from outside sources.

00:23:59.950 --> 00:24:02.940
We don't bring in chemical
fertilizers at all.

00:24:02.940 --> 00:24:04.930
We found out that we could
actually produce more.

00:24:04.930 --> 00:24:08.000
We've had learned how to farm
again, had to learn how to

00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.270
understand the biology of the
soil, had to understand animal

00:24:11.270 --> 00:24:14.780
behavior and how to manage
multiple groups of different

00:24:14.780 --> 00:24:16.990
species of animals
working together.

00:24:16.990 --> 00:24:20.700
But once you master that, you
realize you can produce way

00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:24.060
more than you ever could
conventionally using the

00:24:24.060 --> 00:24:25.990
sustainable and organic methods
that we're now using.

00:24:25.990 --> 00:24:30.350
I apologize for this mess, but
I've been awfully busy.

00:24:30.350 --> 00:24:33.002
And I started cleaning last
night and my kids were helping

00:24:33.002 --> 00:24:36.800
me, but we didn't get there.

00:24:36.800 --> 00:24:39.515
My grandparents came over
here to farm in 1900.

00:24:39.515 --> 00:24:43.090
And they came from northern
Ireland, near Belfast.

00:24:43.090 --> 00:24:45.440
We use a lot of the same
concepts that maybe my

00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.130
grandfather used.

00:24:48.130 --> 00:24:50.500
We can use those concepts, but
we can apply them using modern

00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:51.450
technology.

00:24:51.450 --> 00:24:54.500
And that allows us to get
the best of both worlds.

00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:56.440
And I have interns here that
are on the internet every

00:24:56.440 --> 00:24:58.780
night looking at different
things and trying to figure

00:24:58.780 --> 00:25:00.050
out problems.

00:25:00.050 --> 00:25:03.130
It's a problem solving
type environment.

00:25:03.130 --> 00:25:06.320
And that's this very
stimulating, really.

00:25:06.320 --> 00:25:10.670
- If we had put as much money
into research for

00:25:10.670 --> 00:25:14.030
eco-agriculture as we have
into big ag commodity

00:25:14.030 --> 00:25:16.945
agriculture, well, we'd be in
another whole ball game right

00:25:16.945 --> 00:25:19.800
now, another whole ball game.

00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:23.390
- We are looking hard at what's
going on around the

00:25:23.390 --> 00:25:26.590
world and trying to borrow
concepts from other people.

00:25:26.590 --> 00:25:28.600
I mean, we've taken grazing
techniques and stuff that are

00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:30.140
used in Australia and
New Zealand and

00:25:30.140 --> 00:25:31.450
those kinds of things.

00:25:31.450 --> 00:25:33.170
So it's big world out there.

00:25:33.170 --> 00:25:34.420
We've got a long way to go.

00:25:38.370 --> 00:25:41.180
- Government has a role to play
here, in moving away from

00:25:41.180 --> 00:25:43.670
industrial agriculture and
fostering the kind of farming

00:25:43.670 --> 00:25:46.740
environment that is about
sustainable agriculture.

00:25:46.740 --> 00:25:49.600
I think that with the right kind
of policy environment,

00:25:49.600 --> 00:25:54.020
with an investment in first-rate
science that is

00:25:54.020 --> 00:25:57.190
agro-ecological and that pays
attention to the environment

00:25:57.190 --> 00:26:00.230
and to labor concerns and to
sustainability concerns, we

00:26:00.230 --> 00:26:03.160
can feed the world absolutely
involving--

00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:05.660
by working with small farmers
to improve the kinds of

00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:07.370
agriculture they're doing
at the moment.

00:26:07.370 --> 00:26:09.680
Narrator: With some support
from the government and

00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:13.210
imaginative new ways of farming,
maybe Small Ag won't

00:26:13.210 --> 00:26:16.480
be overwhelmed by big
ag after all.

00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.540
- If you give up hope and you
say "oh, we have to leave it

00:26:19.540 --> 00:26:22.690
to the big players to do it", it
will never happen, because

00:26:22.690 --> 00:26:27.390
the big players continue to
maintain the status quo.

00:26:27.390 --> 00:26:29.340
And that is in their nature.

00:26:29.340 --> 00:26:32.350
You can't blame them, because
if things are good for them,

00:26:32.350 --> 00:26:34.300
why would they want to change?

00:26:34.300 --> 00:26:37.310
So it is the people at the
bottom who are feeling the

00:26:37.310 --> 00:26:40.610
pinch who have to organize
themselves and say, look, hey.

00:26:40.610 --> 00:26:43.440
You know, we have to
have some changes.

00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.200
And they have to put pressure
on their elected

00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:48.870
representatives to
make the kinds of

00:26:48.870 --> 00:26:50.980
change that they want.

00:26:50.980 --> 00:26:54.770
Narrator: Meantime, Ron's not
just farming and campaigning.

00:26:54.770 --> 00:26:58.030
He's also helping distribute
food parcels

00:26:58.030 --> 00:27:01.132
to Nebraska's poor.

00:27:01.132 --> 00:27:02.551
- Ron, it's good to see you.

00:27:02.551 --> 00:27:03.024
- Good to see you.

00:27:03.024 --> 00:27:03.500
Take care.

00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:06.030
Narrator: Even in the heartland
of Big Ag, there are

00:27:06.030 --> 00:27:08.400
still hungry mouths to feed.

00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:11.760
And there'll be plenty
more in the future.

00:27:11.760 --> 00:27:13.500
- We like to think we're
feeding the world.

00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:14.990
But that's a myth.

00:27:14.990 --> 00:27:18.070
It's not happening.

00:27:18.070 --> 00:27:20.240
With all the technology,
we still have hungry

00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:21.490
people in the world.