Is industrial agriculture here to stay?

Here's a thought provoking quote, from an equally interesting article in the Guardian. Unfortunately, this misses entirely the role that governments can and do play in regulating / subsidizing our food supply. I think arguments like this will win the day only if we neglect to consider the impact of agricultural policy, and only if we get caught up in the idea that the market consists solely of supply and demand.

"For those who can afford it, there will always be a place for the artisanal farmer, who harks back to a mythologised rural British past and whose touchy-feely methods are as much about marketing as agriculture.

For the rest of us, who are trying to work out how to fit our thin budget to the financial realities, there are tough choices to be made. And it looks like deciding to embrace efficient if ugly industrial-scale food production may be one of them."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/22/food.biofuels?gusrc=rss&feed=science