Adapted for the Internet from:

Why God Doesn't Exist
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subsistence farming?

    Will the government remember you and come to your aid? Will it dig in to its massive food reserves, send
    in the cavalry, and save the day?

    The first thing you should be aware of is that governments don’t keep emergency reserves of grains for
    seven years like the biblical pharaohs allegedly did because such a policy would depress prices even
    below their already artificially high level. It’s basic Econ 101: the lower the stock, the higher the price. So,
    in this day and age, in order to make agriculture cost effective, we live so to speak day to day. The entire
    stockpile of food on hand can at best last the most advanced nations for about 3 months. [1] Now guess
    who will get any of it.

    Perhaps you believe that you would rush to the country and begin a new life as a subsistence farmer. Ah,
    back to nature. Green acres is the place to be. Fresh air, healthy food, a stroll with the wife down the
    meadow after a hearty lunch…

    Yeah? What do you know about farming? How many potatoes and pounds of rice do you need for the
    winter? Where will you get seeds, fertilizers, and water? Will you wait a few months until the potatoes are
    ripe? What if 10,000 neighbors from the city want to share in your good fortune? Will you risk planting
    today so that a guy with a bigger gun decides to be your long lost friend tomorrow?

    Subsistence and casual farmers instantly become hoplites: planting by day and defending the crop by
    night. It’s an impossible task when you and thousands of others are competing for one potato.

    In developed nations like the US, subsistence farmers are counted with the fingers on one hand, but we
    can speculate that their numbers will instantly swell when industrial farmers quit producing for the
    market. In the absence of profits, agricultural corporations will disband and their employees can at best
    become subsistence farmers.

    Will any farmer plant for the market?

    Assuming they’re successful, what will they exchange their product for? Money? There is no reason to
    plant for others if they have nothing to offer you in exchange. The rule is that the only thing of value is
    food.

    ‘Uncivilized,’ subsistence farmers in remote places of Asia, Africa, and South America will fare no better
    than urban Man. The Saharan nation of Chad, one of the most relegated economies in the world, serves
    as a good example. In 1986, 83% of the inhabitants were subsistence farmers contributing almost 50% to
    GDP. [2] Today, Chad’s farmers are much more productive thanks to ongoing technical and material help
    from global organizations such as the FAO. In spite of this, they only generate 22.6% of GDP. [3] As
    services (currently at 41.7% of GDP) rapidly develop, the structure of Chad’s economy will become like
    that of most other nations. Despite its backwardness, Chad is swiftly leaving subsistence farming behind.
    Cities are replacing rural villages, and in the villages traditional tribes now run agricultural cooperatives
    that produce for a market.  This trend converts the term 'subsistence farming' to a misnomer because it
    conveys the misleading impression that farmers produce food only for their consumption. Clearly, if Chad
    produces mainly peanuts and cotton, the farmers engaged in this business are not what you would call
    ‘subsistence.’ In order to avert future crises, the FAO coaches farmers to be more than self-sufficient. The
    contemporary ‘subsistence’ farmers and tribes produce surpluses that they sell to distributors. The more
    aware the farmer is that there is a world out there with TVs and cell phones, the more the Chadian farmer
    attempts to commercialize his agriculture.

    More revealing in so-called ‘subsistence farming’ economies like that of Chad is that FAO’s intervention
    was necessary because of civil war. Farmers were unable to plant or harvest during times of strife
    because rival factions invaded their lands. Should the world economy collapse, there’s no place to hide
    from persecution and looting, and those who do manage to find a place to hide certainly are not in a
    position or mood to have families. They would merely live out their lives as best they could in their little
    fox holes. Again, in the old days, the few preyed on the many. In the post job market crash, the tables are
    turned and the many prey on the few.

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    Last modified 03/01/08


        Copyright © by Nila Gaede 2008
Is this what I survived the Great
Extinction for? I gotta pull the
plow by hand, but what's the
use if I have no seeds and no
fertilizers anyways. I will have
to wait a few months before
something grows. My wife says
that she will not get pregnant
until we have something to eat,
but there is nothing alive fit to
eat except this dumb bird and
she's too small. All she does is
shit on my head all day long.