Comparative Considerations Between United States

and Caribbean Farming Systems


 By Frank L. Mills
 Assistant Professor of Social Sciences
 College of the Virgin Islands

 The role of agriculture in the development of economies has
 ,received considexablefa.ttention since the 1950's. Several develop-
 ment economists from the advanced countries and some Third
"-World political economists argue that the prosperity of most
 underdeveloped iess directly dependent on abundance.
 in.agriculture, and that low levels of production and productivity
 lead to overall depressed economic conditions. Examples from the
 developed countries have shown that as those nations developed,
 the productivity of labor in agriculture increased, and that labor
 generally transferred from agricultural activities to other industries.
 The current status of agriculture in the United States is that the
 farm population has decreased constantly over time, output has
 increased progressively, personal income levels from farming
 have continued to rise and the overall contribution to national
 income remains considerable. This is the kind of growth model
 that agrarian Caribbean territories have been encouraged to adopt,
 but even with substantial adaptations there are differences which
 are crucial enough to contribute to ultimate failure when applied.
 One may summarize these differences between United States and
 Caribbean agriculture under six topical areas: attitudes,to farmin,
 average size of the production units (farms), availability and
 _quality of labor, income-rom farming, marketing arrangements
 and level of technology.

 The first set of Europeans who migrated to the North Ameri-
 can mainland were primarily engaged in agricultural activities.
 Eor a long time farming was a prosperous activity, especially
 with the opening up of the corn fields in the midwest and the
 wheat fields further west. Many farmers were able to climb from
 the lowly position of an unpaid family worker to a hired laborer


status, then through tenancy and finally to owner-operator status.
In the early stages of United States farming, this was considered
the ideal way to get started and to Acquire wealth. American
farmers today have achieved a firm po.ilion in the nation's social
hieir~Tcri'-t and they are in no doubt as to their contribution to
their country's well being. On the other hand, the attitude of
the vast majority of Cabbean farmers to agricultural work has
been conditioned by their coercion into it from the very beginning.
Farming in the region was built upon slavery, was maintained by
it, grew prosperous upon it until well into the nineteenth century,
and continued to do so after the abolition oi'slaveiry by the ex-
"ploitation of the agricultural workers. The impact of the legacy of
slavery on the mental attitude of Caribbean farmers is a major
reason for the general negative attitude of most workers to farm-
ing. The very persistence of plantations in the area today is an acid
reminder of the sordid conditions that were the hallmarks of
agricultural production. The rigid pattern of social stratification,
together with racial discrimination that created and fostered it,
inhibits the development of the full potential of the region's
human resources in agriculture activity. The conditions have caused
'our youth to associate farming with poverty and low social status.
and it severely inhibits their willingness to consider farming as .1
wholesome occupation. Even if attitudes to farming were more
positive, the size of production units would still be a deterring
development factor when compared with American farms.

 While one would normally expect U.S. mainland farms to he
 more numerous and larger than Caribbean farms, it would still be
 worthwhile to examine some of their characteristics. Recent data
 on most regional farms is not readily available, hence statistics on
 U.S. Virgin Islands farms are presented for comparative purposes
 (see Table 1). About one-quarter (24%) of the farms in the Virgin
 sandsa-re7ess than 3 acres4and about six in ten are ess than 10 
 acres. The table shows that, on the other hand, less than one in


 TABLE 1
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS FOR U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS FARMS '


Characteristics


Farm Size (acres):
 Less than 10
 More than 10
 Average

Tenure (in %):
 Full Owners
 Part Owners
 Tenants
 Other

Average Age of Operator

Sales Under $2,500 (in %)


TOTAL FARMS


United States
 1974


(94.5
S440.0


 61.5
 27.1
 11.3
 0.0


U.S. Virgin Islands
1974 1978


 62.1%
 37.9
( 75.5


 85.9
 5.5
 5.5
 3.1


52.4

78.6


2,314,013


63.QO/
37-.
64.5>


78.1
7.9
 7.4
 6.6

54.0


327 378


Source: 1974 and 1978 U.S. and V.I. Census of Agriculture.