On February 7, 2010, there was an article on The New York Times website titled “To Survive, Dairy Farmers Go Co-op”. The article is about a man named Sam Simon, an orthopedic surgeon who made an odd career switch in 2005; he founded a dairy co-op called Hudson Valley Fresh. Eight other dairy farmers joined the co-op in order to avoid the milk processing and pricing system that was dominant in the industry by marketing and distributing their milk on their own. The co-op is nonprofit and it sells premium-quality milk with no artificial hormones. To cut down on transportation costs, the co-op markets its milk within an 80-mile radius and believes people will pay more for a higher quality product that is locally produced. The farmers are paid a price for their milk that is based solely on their cost of production rather than a fixed commodity price; this is the difference between breaking even and losing money. Most small dairy farmers cannot compete on their own, as evidenced by the decline in dairies in Dutchess County from 275 in the 1970s to only 26 currently. According to Simon, “‘The question for dairy farmers is: How are you going to survive? You’re not going to survive milking 60 cows and competing with a 30,000-cow herd out West. So you either give up or you try something different. This is something different’” (NY Times Online).
The ethical issues in question, with respect to Marx, seem to be if one receives a price based solely on his or her cost of production, is that person receiving the benefits of their labor as well as the value of the capital that is being labored on? In addition, is this a way to circumvent the estranged labor that is rampant in the capitalist system? In other words, does this type of system serve to de-alienate one’s labor from one’s self? And, if so, should this type of co-op structure be the dominant economic model in the world today?
I think Marx would agree that Hudson Valley Fresh, the co-op established to circumnavigate the processing and pricing system in the dairy industry, does return all of the value the dairy farmers have added to their capital through their labor. However, because their costs of production are so high, the money they receive for their labor is still just enough to survive; these dairy farmers are not seeing any sort of significant increase in their discretionary income, but they are receiving enough to maintain both a decent life and their current employment.
Because the co-op has effectively eliminated the intermediaries in the dairy industry, the dairy farmers are no longer forced into a situation where they must devalue their own labor in order to survive. Therefore, they are able to produce at a price of their choice and are guaranteed to receive at least that amount in return, any profit above their prices of production is split according to how much milk each farmer contributed to the co-op because the co-op itself does not make any money. Therefore, these farmers are receiving a return on their labor. In other words, their labor is worth something to them. Since this system seems to allow one to benefit from his or her own labor, I believe Marx would agree that the dairy farmers have found a way to de-alienate their labor from themselves. The farmers are now no longer estranged from the product of their labor, the activity of their labor, or their ‘species being’.
Should this, or could this be the dominant economic model in our world today? I do not know, although in theory it sounds somewhat plausible and somewhat not. It seems that Hudson Valley Fresh has found a niche market for their product, one that is absolutely necessary for their co-op to remain sustainable, although that niche market is obviously much smaller than the market of all the people who are milk drinkers. If most people were willing to pay much more for something they could get somewhere else at a much cheaper price, I think this could work. However, I do not necessarily believe that that is the case. Furthermore, while I believe that people would be happy simply sustaining their own lives, if given the choice, most people would seek out opportunities for profit. As this economic model does not necessarily provide much in the way of profit, I think it is probably unappealing to most people who are familiar with capitalism. I think if there were some way to institute this it could work; but, in order to do it, all facets of everyday life for everyone would necessarily need to be changed (for example: laws and liability issues, government, education, even the way people think). For the above reasons, I see a world economic system based solely on this type of model as a sort of utopian ideal rather than a real option.
I like this post; it's interesting to learn about how this co-op works for dairy farming. You said that you think Marx would approve of this system of work because the farmers are de-alienated from their labor or no longer estranged from their labor. I disagree, I believe that for Marx, the labor has to be directly used or consumed by the laborer in order for it to be de-alienated. In this case, the milk is still produced in large quantities then sold to people all over the area. I think this is still considered estranged labor for Marx. If the farmers only produced enough milk for themselves and their family to consume, then this labor is no longer estranged because there is a direct relationship between the laboror and the product.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, you talk about how the profits from the production go directly to the farmer who produced the milk. In this sense, the labor is no longer estranged because the laborer recieves back the value he has added to the product. Unlike wage labor, where the laborer may only recieve back half of the value that he adds to a product.
This is an interesting article and the first time I have read about this co-op type system. I agree with you that Marx would approve of this system. The workers at this dairy farm earn from exactly what they produce. Each worker is compensated for their cost of production and earn that added value that they put into the product through their labor. This is exactly what Marx wanted, he wants the worker's added value to be given back to that individual worker, and not to the capitalist. This type of system de-alienates people from their work and they get paid for exactly what they produce. I just don’t understand why this system isn’t as popular as it could be. This seems to be the only system in where people are not alienated from their work and I believe it should become more popular in today’s society.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy by the end of your post you touched on the idea that this is mostly utopitarian. I commend Mr. Simon that he has taken it upon himself to have this non-profit co-op but like you said, I think most people are profit seeking and not 'ok' with just surviving, although through Marx argument, that is exactly what we are doing in the capitalist world. Also when you touched on the point about paying higher prices for a better quality product, I believe that is highly unlikely seeing how as I mentioned before, people are subjected to the capitalist world and barley have enough to get by, none the less pay more for products needed for life, such as milk. I do like how you approached the argument and was able to dis-prove, in a sense, Marx' theory. Interesting spin.
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