Dominic Duckett asks some interesting questions in the on-going discussion about small farms and nature conservation under Question 6.1.
The discussion to-date appears to have focussed upon the negative impacts of large carnivores upon livestock. This is a major issue here in Romania, for example, since more large carnivores (wolves, brown bears and Eurasian lynx) live near domestic livestock than in any other European country. The loss of sheep to wolves especially is a significant economic burden on small farms and an on-going challenge for shepherds managing flocks in the mountains during the summer grazing period. For a comprehensive overview see here:
There is an EU platform on coexistence between large carnivores and people which meets regularly:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/carnivores/coexistence_platform.htm
More generally, Dominic’s question about “How can we more successfully combine increased agricultural production and effective conservation on
small farms?” is central to the challenge of maintaining the large areas of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland that exist in Europe – much of which is managed by small-scale farms in marginal areas using traditional management techniques which have created and
maintained high levels of farmland biodiversity (e.g. species-rich semi-natural grasslands) for hundreds of years.
A significant proportion of the 3.4 million small farms in Romania are managing HNV farmland. However, as the number of small farms decline (over 0.5 million small farms were lost between 2005-2013 - equivalent to an average of 180/day!) so is the biodiversity associated with them. Maintaining profitable small farms that can sustain an acceptable level of household income is therefore critically important for nature conservation – as well as food and nutrition security - in Romania.
2/ From: RICHARD YEBOAH <[log in to unmask]> (Ghana)
The open market economy policy of the government of Ghana since the mid 1990 (Economic recovery programme after the Structural Adjustment Programme) has brought about the collapse of many small farms and small food businesses. People have taken more to import of and trade in almost all food items and processed products that used to be produced in small quantities by many small farms and businesses. The local small businesses could not match the low prices of the imported goods that come from commercials farms that have economies of scale and sometimes subsidy.
Market forces (demand and supply) determine the price of produce. In years when small farms produce more or have better yields they become poorer because the price of their produce drop, sometimes drastically.
In 2017 the government rolled out a new policy they dubbed “Planting for Food and Jobs”. This policy provides 50% subsidy on fertiliser, allow registered farmer to pay 50% of the subsidised cost cash and pay the rest after harvest. Seed of some cereals and legumes are given free. This has helped increased the number of small farms and small businesses as well as improve the yields of farms that hitherto could not apply fertiliser to their poor soils. This a good policy