It was idyllic. The 20 farmers from around the district patted themselves on the back. The first farmers market had been a roaring success after the families who had struggled for to sell their vegetables and fruit on rickety tables at the entrances to their farms for years agreed to centralize every Saturday to sell their wares. In the village, where it would be easier for the customers and save them petrol and time. "After all", Miss Evans had commented in that first meeting, "We all have different produce to offer, and the same family which buys lettuce from me will need potatoes from her and onions from him."
There was much happy nodding, agreement and excitement.
For the first season it went so well. The Jones family had been able to buy a much-needed car with the increased sales of their tomatoes. The Smiths were so happy with booming apple sales that they accidentally fell pregnant one night celebrating their new-found community and family of choice. The O'Hares got excited seeing the Jones' tomatoes and wondered why they had never thought of growing them, and so they saved some seeds and before long they had 200 new tomato plants merrily flowering out back of the barn too!
Life was good. Everyone was allowed to make their own choices and decisions, and everyone helped with the shared tasks. Centralization had been a wonderful idea!
When the O'Hares started harvesting large buckets of tomatoes, most of the other vendors were pleased. The O'Hares had done it hard, their roof had holes and they deserved success. But the excess of tomatoes drove the price down, and the Jones family sold less due to more competition. They started to wonder about the wisdom of buying the car, which was expensive to maintain. The Smiths were delivered, much to everyone's surprise, of triplets! They suddenly had no time to tend to their cabbages and so they used the profits they had saved from the wonderful months of sales prior to buy some cheap plastic toys. It was all they could afford. And, after all, toys were high on their radar and no one else was selling them. The other farmers wondered about the wisdom of allowing the Smiths to sell plastic toys at the Farmers Market, but no one felt empowered enough to confront them. Despite everyone talking about it at home behind closed doors, there was a tacit, unspoken agreement that there was no need for heavy handed centralized control. After all, it didn't affect the sales on anyone else's apples, right, so what was the harm?
It was an unseasonably cold and wet year that year. The farmers grumbled about the rain and the cold which limited their customers. At the December meeting, possibly due to everyone having heavy colds and maybe due to a little too much spiced wine being served, the centralized collective of farmers agreed to all contribute funds towards a big, weather-proof shed. The Gardener family suggested an air-conditioning system too, as the shed would be VERY HOT for the rest of the year, and the motion was carried almost unanimously amidst coughs and snuffles.
Slowly the Farmers Market began to struggle. Three other families found themselves short on time, and eventually the collective agreed to contribute a little money each month towards a paid administrator, who could help with marketing, to relieve those families from the burden of endless discussion and meetings. Slowly, the other families felt no need to keep coming either, as the administrator was doing a good job and was, after all, being PAID to be there, and they weren't. A plant virus did the rounds of the district and 6 more families found themselves with little produce to sell. Like the pioneering O'Hare's they too, bought cheap imported goods that the villagers seemed to want and were very happy to pay for. After all, they had financial commitments towards the cost of the building and the administrator.
And so it continued.
One day an optimistic and arguably naive reporter from the famous Steem based Eco Living Weekly magazine stumbled in to the local bar and was chatting with the locals. The village families complained that people now bought fruit at the next village, since their own market had few fruit offerings anymore. Times were hard and 'things' were not what they had once been. The earnest, probing reporter was overheard to cynically question if the village's troubles weren't all fueled by centralization led by the evil corporation started and now owned by the once diligent co-op administrator.
Really?
The pure energy of centralization had brought them the Farmers Market in the first place, just as it had inspired the eclectic families and lonely individuals who had formed the new local Steem eco-village. Everyone else in the village had embraced the centralization of the eco-village's own steem-based token, and were optimistic that as long as everyone continued to use and promote it, that the token would thrive and appreciate in value.
Me? I sat in the corner swilling an excellent merlot slowly in my glass and wondered.
Wasn't it the individuals who had corrupted and destroyed the Farmers Market? Wasn't it centralization which had fueled their community dream? Wasn't it their desire for comfort, their lack of agreed values, their poor communication, their inclination towards ease which had actually started the rot?
What do you think?
I'd love your comments and responses below.
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Prepared in response to @ecotrain's Question of The Week: "In What Ways Has Centralization Failed Us?"
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In community run situations like the smaller farmers market and the larger Eco-village the importance of having agreed values and good communication can't be stressed enough plus the ability to work together.
With the coin if the confidence can be built in the coin I think it is a good idea to have your own means of an exchange mechanism because of the falling confidence in other fiat currencies.
I think the lesson here is to start small and grow only as you are able - I don't believe in going into debt and it has served me well my whole life.
Everything starts -and ends- with core values & communication. WE are the system we love & want to hate.
I just love how you wove this into a tale!
Like many things, centralisation has good and bad sides, but too often things end up getting manipulated for the benefit of the few. Balance is imperative, but not always easy to maintain.
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I wanted to find a way to show that WE are 'the system' that we all love to hate & blame, & that it's mostly a lack of agreed values & difficulty communicating at the beginning (when all is excitement) that is the seed of destruction.
A great way to get your point across. Lack of agreement and cooperation do lead to a fall.
We often don't want to see the divergence or contrasts in core values at the excitement-create phase.... makes for a bumpier ride later. Not unlike falling into - and out of - love.
Yes, true
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I'm not sure if a few farmers getting together in a market is centralisation. If they all sold wholesale their goods to a shop, that would be it.
Of course the shop will get a cut but it'll work every day for 10 hours while the market will be for a couple of hours in a single day. Also that frees plenty of time for the farmers. Not to talk about the fact many farmers are introvert and have a hard time marketing their crops
So in your story, each and every one of the farmers failed in different way. The administrator did not. The village people were failed by the farmers.
A fail is not something inherently bad. Maybe the farmers will learn a lesson and start over once they can manage it.
So centralisation is also something not inherently bad. What must be kept in mind is the actual scale of things and the limits of the possible in the context of permaculture ethics.
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Working together has always proven to be the most successful way of achieving goals. Service to a greater cause other than yourself has proven to be the most effective and rewarding service. When people work as a team, they win as a team. The centralization did a lot for the farmers but because they put greed over need, they began to fail.
They will soon realize within a short period of time how much they have lost as a result of their greed and the downfall of the centralization. The way you narrated the story was really sweet @artemislives.
Great read! "...their lack of agreed values, their poor communication..." and their lack of participation all fueled the demise of the community market in this story. I have visited, lived in, participated in, and taught about intentional communities of many different sorts. Those three aspects are ones that I focus on in the explanation of areas to be mindful of and specific in dealing with. While having the cohesion in the desire to "centralize" with other farmers for selling their wares, that is not enough to carry a group of humans past a short-term satisfaction. Having the foresight to develop a framework that includes agreed upon centralized values and goals along with steps for decision making and conflict resolution gives the founders the ability to maintain the ideals and energies of the pure concepts that brought the group together. Creating a way for direct and productive communications to happen between group members is essential for sustainable participation! It also helps with the reality that it's likely members will change over time, and gives future community the chance to resolve issues as they arise in a manner that holds true to the framework of the group.
@artemislives you have my attention now... I look forward to reading more of your posts!
open and honest communication is really important and so is the ability to help and support those who need to be supported. It would have been great if they thought of everyone rather then just their own individual stalls, if one falls behind help them back up, we are after all, here to help lift others, Community should really not let anyone suffer, but instead find a way to work together so that everyone benefits. Great take on the question xxx
I personally feel for any community to survive the agreed values are the most important and then an transparent communication, if these 2 are lacked it can crumble down very easily. In their case even the nature played some role. From a thriving community to a struggling one there are a lot of misses and lessons to learn
oooh, food for thought! the example of the farmers market is an interesting one.. thats a shame it didnt work out.. many do of course... especially the very local ones that are a part of the community events.. but sometimes things go wrong.. Making the right decisions when things are not going well are the most important.. we should hold on to our values, and make them carefully..
i believe in what i am now calling ultra-decentralised systems.. they are ones that are not only decentralised, but also work organically with least effort, and with minimal rules or restrictions. The problem i think with your local farmers is that they are a tiny, isolated group still tied and trying to operate within the centralised systems. First we have to get out of its control and pressures, by becoming self sufficient ourselves, and then we can start making the right decisions for healthy abundance.
Cryptos and tokens are decentralised because no one has outright control of it, and anyone can step in and gain influence at any time. Many start off more centralised as the tokens get adopted over time,
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