This is Jahi Chappell, again.

There are ample examples of small farmers leading in "battle" against excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Whatever one thinks of La Via Campesina, they surely lead in such battles, and they are not exclusively subsistence farmers. Indeed, within the United States, you can look at the variety of farmers represented by the National Family Farm Coalition, and many of its member organizations fight excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, including Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, which has prominent farmer members; many of the farmers in Julie Guthman's book Agrarian Dreams; the research and work of Guntra Aistara in Costa Rica in Latvia (with a diversity of responses documented there); and the Southeastern African-American Farmers' Organic Network. Among others. I suggest a thorough reading of the literature, especially in critical agrarian studies and rural sociology, as there will be examples of small farmers with many different attitudes, from pro-fertilizers and pesticides to vehemently against. One can easily find both.

M. Jahi Chappell, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow, Agroecology and Agricultural Policy
Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience
Coventry University
Coventry, 
UK

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