Cash crops are killing our farmers

Why read this story?

Editor's note: A lot has happened since the last newsletter. The government has repealed the three farm laws it passed last winter, and farmers are finally returning home from Delhi’s borders. In the wake of all of this, there has been a lot of discussion on the best ways of improving farmers’ incomes. The view of the government and large agribusinesses has been that proposed changes to the market structure will do that, while farmers disagreed. Their fears were that the laws did not address key issues such as legal support for the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, exposing farmers further to exploitation by large agribusinesses. At home, and faced with steadily rising food prices (don’t we love our tomatoes right now?) and substantial grocery bills, it sometimes becomes difficult to make sense of all this beyond the superficial farmers-don’t-get-a-fair-share line. But if you dig deeper, you’ll find that the biggest underlying factor affecting farmers’ fortunes has been the shift in our food habits. A wonderful photo project by photographer Peter Menzel over a decade ago provides a peek into what …