Huh, now that you mention it I guess Ocean Spray is a cooperative. I’m not sure whether it’s a coop of farm owners or it actually enfranchises the workers, though. Wikipedia just refers to some 700 “growers”
Every farm I’ve looked into that’s what happens, and that’s been the status quo from the beginning of agriculture in the US. The owner operator farm is largely a myth and the ones that do exist are subsidized into life by growing specific crops and they are highly technology dependent even still.
The few owner operator farms that exist in the US and Canada never sell to produce companies, as the scale simply isn’t there. The only place you’ll ever find them is at farmers markets or your local equivalent. They’re always going to be family farms which usually means multiple generations working there including “homeschooled” kids and multiple adult siblings living on the farm.
They almost always sell only one or two crops: potatoes, corn, or heirloom apples are common, they’ll rarely show up outside of peak seasons for those. Free range organic eggs and local honey are also common owner-operator items.
In my experience the stand will usually be operated by someone elderly, supported by their adult child or grandchild who’s doing most of the heavy lifting from the van, not a truck. Truck might be more common in the states tho
I still consider the giant grain farms to be owner operator even if that ground is muddied a bit, that’s what I was referring to with the Subsidized highly technology dependent crops.
Absolutely my experience with small owner op farms too, in my area it’s all apples and honey sold by somebody much too young or old to be working a market stall all day. Didn’t really think about them when I wrote this since their impact is so small compared to the large soy/corn/wheat owner op farms.
Oh, for sure. Highly mechanized farms can be owner operated, they’re just harder for people to support directly as they don’t really have a public facing presence. I think there are a few brands you might find in stores that try to only deal with owner-op. Bob’s Red Mill might be one of them, but I can’t actually find anything on their site to back it up.
OWNERS OR WORKERS MOTHER FUCKER?!
Huh, now that you mention it I guess Ocean Spray is a cooperative. I’m not sure whether it’s a coop of farm owners or it actually enfranchises the workers, though. Wikipedia just refers to some 700 “growers”
Knew a guy who’s family farm was part of the Welch’s cooperative, they mainly employed migrant workers from Mexico.
Every farm I’ve looked into that’s what happens, and that’s been the status quo from the beginning of agriculture in the US. The owner operator farm is largely a myth and the ones that do exist are subsidized into life by growing specific crops and they are highly technology dependent even still.
The few owner operator farms that exist in the US and Canada never sell to produce companies, as the scale simply isn’t there. The only place you’ll ever find them is at farmers markets or your local equivalent. They’re always going to be family farms which usually means multiple generations working there including “homeschooled” kids and multiple adult siblings living on the farm.
They almost always sell only one or two crops: potatoes, corn, or heirloom apples are common, they’ll rarely show up outside of peak seasons for those. Free range organic eggs and local honey are also common owner-operator items.
In my experience the stand will usually be operated by someone elderly, supported by their adult child or grandchild who’s doing most of the heavy lifting from the van, not a truck. Truck might be more common in the states tho
I still consider the giant grain farms to be owner operator even if that ground is muddied a bit, that’s what I was referring to with the Subsidized highly technology dependent crops.
Absolutely my experience with small owner op farms too, in my area it’s all apples and honey sold by somebody much too young or old to be working a market stall all day. Didn’t really think about them when I wrote this since their impact is so small compared to the large soy/corn/wheat owner op farms.
Oh, for sure. Highly mechanized farms can be owner operated, they’re just harder for people to support directly as they don’t really have a public facing presence. I think there are a few brands you might find in stores that try to only deal with owner-op. Bob’s Red Mill might be one of them, but I can’t actually find anything on their site to back it up.