Re: The view from a UK organic veg farm Archived Message
Posted by Ian M on October 10, 2020, 11:02 pm, in reply to "Re: The view from a UK organic veg farm"
Hi Derek, nice to 'see' you again. Yes, I suppose organic farming isn't the only sector to benefit from unpaid work from idealistic, perhaps naive young people (with wealthy parents). I felt okay about being on the WWOOF scheme to start with because that's an exchange where they take time out to train you and explain what's going on through the whole process, a kind of apprenticeship in a way, with which I was able to learn the ropes on a number of skills without having to get into debt on a college course which would have minimal practical tuition. But after the first full season on the 'step above' of £50/week it's starting to feel like exploitation because I know what I'm doing mostly and working effectively and efficiently enough to be creating a significant amount of 'value added'. As you say, where does it all go, and why is it not apparently possible to dignify my efforts with a decent wage? I don't find it persuasive to blame the economy or consumers not willing to pay more for their food, though equally I've seen the accounts and it doesn't appear that they're creaming massive amounts of profit off our backs. Especially frustrating as the kind of market gardening we're doing holds so much promise for the sustainable future we desperately need and appears to coincide so well with healthy bird & insect life (less keen on the rats and mice of course...) yet the economic signal we're getting is a giant middle finger. Shouldn't be surprising I guess - capitalism was never going to support sane ways of living - but still dispiriting. No easy options... cheers, I
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