Big Business: the New Drive for Sustainability?

The New York Times covered a phenomenon that seemed strange to me. In India, Wal Mart is using its influence to change farming and business practices in the agricultural sector – mostly, it seems, for the better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/business/global/13walmart.html

In America, Wal Mart is often seen as the epitome of destructive big business. And yet, in India’s breadbasket, the company is going local – partnering with small-scale farmers to supply the best produce to its associated stores. To increase their gains, farmers are given low-tech tools and information that have greatly increased their output and financial gains.

This, on the surface, has positive ramifications for all. Wal Mart and its affiliates are able to buy more and better quality produce, while farmers experience larger financial gains. This is an interesting way to begin advancing (for lack of a less teleological word) a sector that has much room to improve production and efficiency. However, it will take more than investment in farmers and farming technology for a company such as Wal Mart to reap the increasing gains that it has in countries such as the USA. A few reasons for this (from my own head):

Infrastructural dualities severely limit food distribution. Poor roads, difficult terrain, and a decentralized food sector that favors micro-scale sellers mean that it is difficult to sell food far from where it is produced. Locavores may rejoice, but it should be recalled that this is borne from necessity, not from choice.

Food production remains highly inefficient. One company cannot revolutionize this – a true overhaul of agriculture requires not only private investment, but government support. In addition, it would be interesting to know what kind of technology big businesses espouse – are they at the expense of the environment?

If Wal Mart begins to get its proverbial foot in the door, what will the ramifications be for the millions of small-scale farmers, and perhaps more pressingly, shopkeepers and local sellers? India has many laws protecting cottage industries – something that Gandhi himself explicitly espoused, but will it be enough to stem the inevitable tide of the globalization of food?