‘Archaic’ Relations of Production in Modern Agricultural Systems: The Example of Sharemilking in New Zealand

Abstract

Sharecropping is neglected in the analysis of land use and rural change in modern western economies. Notwithstanding the Marxist classification of sharecropping as a form of wage labor, it is conceptualized in this paper as simple commodity production, based on the unity of household and enterprise. The organization of sharecropping is examined with the use of this conceptualization, although the review incorporates economic and other perspectives. Sharemilking in New Zealand is used to evaluate this framework at two scales, on representative dairy farms of average size and on large dairy farms owned by corporations. It is found to be a mutually beneficial relationship that promotes efficient production and high output. It also facilitates intergenerational transfer, provides a rung on the dairying ladder, and contributes to the reproduction of family-based dairying in New Zealand. Sharemilking is also the preferred means for recent corporate entrants to the industry to operate their large dairy farms. Currently, sharemilking is playing a role in the penetration of agriculture by capital.

Dependent Reproduction of Alternative Modes of Agriculture: Organic Farming in New Zealand

“…Importantly, these tendencies are even more evident in organic than in conventional agriculture and each commands greater relevance during the current politics of globalization/localization. Despite obvious tendencies towards commodification of food production, the persistence of 'archaic relations' in agriculture (Blunden et al 1997) retains its importance in contemporary rural studies (Goodman and Watts 1994).…”

Letting Go of ‘Conventionalisation’: Family Labour on New Zealand Organic Dairy Farms

“…Sharemilking relationships are most successful when owner and sharemilkers share both risk and responsibility evenly (Blunden et al . ), an ideal that does not easily mesh with the requirements of organic certification, as discussed later. Sharemilkers occupy a contradictory class location (Wright ) in which ‘the substantive structural determinants of class may actually pull a grouping in opposite directions’ (Wells , p. 298).…”

“…A unique feature of the New Zealand dairy industry is the widespread use of sharemilking arrangements (Blunden et al 1997). Sharemilking involves contracted profit sharing between a farm-owner, who owns the land, buildings and heavy machinery of the farm, and the sharemilker, who owns all or part of the dairy herd and some light machinery.…”

“…The ability to incrementally increase capital investment by increasing herd size is a defining feature of sharemilking. Sharemilking is widely understood to ease the transition both into and out of the dairy industry by allowing young farmers to accrue capital slowly and move towards independent farm ownership, while also allowing older farmers to disinvest slowly from both capital and labour and move towards retirement (Blunden et al 1997; Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems 1999). Sharemilking is virtually non-existent outside New Zealand.…”

“…Sharemilkers, usually young couples in their twenties and thirties and their families, carry the responsibility for the farm's daily management and production, but must share important decision-making with the farm owner. Sharemilking relationships are most successful when owner and sharemilkers share both risk and responsibility evenly (Blunden et al 1997), an ideal that does not easily mesh with the requirements of organic certification, as discussed later. Sharemilkers occupy a contradictory class location (Wright 1976) in which 'the substantive structural determinants of class may actually pull a grouping in opposite directions' (Wells 1984b, p. 298).…”