Industrialized Farming and Its Relationship to Community Well-Being

Transition from Semi-Confinement to Pasture-Based Dairy in Brazil: Farmers’ View of Economic and Environmental Performances

“…However, such production methods may threaten both long-term viability of smallholders' livestock systems and important ecosystem services they often affect (Stofferahn 2006;Farley et al 2011). Santa Catarina is part of the critically endangered Atlantic rainforest biome, which generates a wide array of ecosystem goods and services such as water supply, climate regulation, food provision, pollination, and cultural and spiritual amenities (Silvano et Ditt et al 2010), that are essential to human wellbeing (Daily et al 1997;Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [MA] 2005).…”

“…These disservices often affect the provision of ecosystem goods and services ultimately affecting the small farms' economic feasibility and capacity to maintain the livelihoods (MA 2005). The small farmers inability to cope with high scale industrialized dairy is evident (Lyons et al 2000;Hinrichs and Welsh 2003;Stofferahn 2006), but is particularly notable in the Atlantic rainforest biome due to landscape characteristics and social structures.…”

Community well-being, individual responsibility, and agricultural change: an analysis of Iowa communities

“…While various methods have been implemented in numerous regions throughout the U.S. and Canada focusing on general and specific forms of agriculture, consensus indicates that over this time period the research has suggested that communities are negatively impacted by such structural changes of vertical integration and corporate control in agriculture. Stofferahn (2006) found that thirty-two reported detrimental impacts, fourteen revealed some detrimental impacts, and ten reported no evidence of detrimental impacts. While the majority of studies during the past fifty years have indicated negative outcomes, those revealing mixed or no relationship between the industrialization of agriculture and community well-being have begun to emerge in the past twenty-five years.…”

“…Research addressing the local social and economic effects of changes in the structure of agricultural production in Iowa have produced mixed results in recent decades (Durrenberger and Thu 1996;Otto, Orazem, and Huffman 1998;Peters 2002). While nationally, decades of research suggest that the changes in agricultural scale and structure have had unfavorable affects for social and economic well-being, variations in regional effects are mixed (Green 1985;Lobao 1990;Stofferahn 2006), indicating the need for continued research.…”

“…It recasts Goldschmidt's (1978a) original thesis that industrialized farming has deleterious effects on the well-being of rural communities. Conceptually, and theoretically, this research adopts more sophisticated measures and considerations that have been developed and refined through decades of neo-Goldschmidt studies (Lobao 1990;Stofferahn 2006). No previous research, however, has examined the effects of changes in scale and structure of agriculture on both socioeconomic and perceptual community well-being at more than one time period.…”