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The Fall of Long Kaek from a Sociological Standpoint:  an idea in progress

The disappearance of the Long Kaek tradition seems to be a telling microcosm of the large scale changes that Thailand has undergone over the past century and continues to undergo today.  

From my (very basic) understanding, Long Kaek is a Thai agricultural tradition where farmers assemble and work as a community to harvest rice one field at a time.  This turns what could be a daunting and isolating task for an individual family to complete into a social bonding event for the entire community.  

But the tradition is now, for all intensive purposes, dead.  According to Tony Chanasabaeng, no one has participated in Long Kaek for at least the last ten years.  P’Ubol Yoowah explained why.  “The Green Revolution changed the intentions of farmers in general; farmers moved from producing for themselves to producing for the market.”  Agriculture became an investment, and the resulting drive for economic efficiency slowly led to the Long Kaek tradition of sharing being replaced by a tractor and hired labor.  Economic efficiency increases, but a sense of community unity decreases.  

As a budding Sociologist, the changes in Thailand’s agricultural system sound oddly familiar to me.  Such examples as the loss of Long Kaek seem reminiscent of Max Weber and Karl Marx’s predictions about the woes capitalism would bring.  

Weber predicted that capitalism would create a culture of what he called rationalisation.  Society would become obsessed with efficiency: achieving the maximum results with the minimum amount of effort.  Traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society would be replaced by logic and rationality.  

This pattern of rationalisation is seen in more than just the deterioration of Long Kaek.  Rationalisation is seen in not only in the deterioration of Long Kaek, but also in the switch from organic farming to chemical, from growing varieties of crops to monocropping, and from small, local farms to massive, industrial ones.  The consequences of this drive for efficiency are seen in the loss of community unity, the environmental suffering of the land, health issues from pesticides, fertilizer, and herbicide, and a seemingly insurmountable cycle of debt for Thai farmers.  

Marx would point to the deterioration of Long Kaek as the expected effect of living in a capitalistic society.  He would argue that, before capitalism reached Thailand, since farmers produced food only for their own or their community’s consumption, farmers were autonomous in their work and were in complete control to conduct their livelihood how they pleased (or at least more in control than in a capitalistic society).  Farmers felt connected to their land, and to their product.  Neighbors had pleasant relationships with one another, traditions like Long Kaek show that they benefitted from working together and from living socially.

But, Marx would argue, when capitalism took hold in Thailand, things changed.  Instead of growing food for themselves and their friends, farmers began to sell their food to the abstract world market.  The global economy determines the exchange value of their product: their very livelihood is now under the control of something they don’t understand.  They lose autonomy.  They work at the will of others.  No longer eating their own food, the farmers lose a sense of connection to their product and their land: they begin to use chemicals and sacrifice quality for efficiency.  They can now officially always be working, for they are no longer restricted by the food consumption needs of their family and local community.  If you make more, you can sell more.  So labor becomes a commodity.  Long Kaek is out the window because, if you need more workers, they must be paid.  If they acquire debt in a bad season, they may take up contract farming or even just sell their farm to a large corporation and leave their town to work in a factory in the city.  Suddenly the farmers’ very way of life becomes extinguished and replaced by something foreign and, in Marx’s opinion, dehumanizing.  

Thankfully, the farmers’ organic movement we saw in Yasothon Province appears to be working to correct some of the injustices in the Thai agricultural system: returning autonomy to the farmers and allowing them to take pride in their work once more.  

Charlie Ruiz

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Building Connections Through Food

I stayed with a family of three while in Yasothon Province. The family consisted of Meeh Mook, her husband, and her granddaughter Mot. Despite the small family size, Meeh Mook cooked and ate with neighbors and friends various times throughout the week. Over the course of the week it became clear to me that the village acted as a family and food was a vehicle for neighbors to spend time with one another either through community gatherings or meals.

Last week, stinginess with food did not exist and generosity was not lacking. In my opinion, offering and receiving food is a form of sharing, respect, and showing you care for someone. Sharing food is a way to bridge connections and demonstrate love between community members. Accepting food is a way of saying thank you and appreciating their hospitality. It is a way of overcoming language barriers and forming relationships without the needs for words.

In the United States individuals oftentimes cook and eat alone throughout the day. In Yasotoon Province, cooking and especially eating was rarely done alone. People in our village grew their own food but on daily cooked and ate together.

The following photos show people’s generosity, working together and the importance of food in Buddhist ceremonies.

Isaan traditional way of eating

At Meeh Pi’s house, we spent 30 minutes harvesting coconuts. Then after drinking the coconut water and eating the meat Meeh Pi gave us the rest to take home.

At a neighbor’s garden he generously gave us vegetables to try. When we asked if we could try the sugar cane, he offered an entire cane.

                                         WORKING TOGETHER

Casava was harvested and prepared by friends.

Neighbors helped cut up vegetables and cook dinner.

                                          RELIGIOUS CEREMONY

Every family brought food for the monks to put together in large offerings for a religious ceremony. The following photos are of the community members eating together after the religious ceremony.

Text and photo by Ariana Paredes-Vincent

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Community Update: Yasothon Province

By Lizzy Dombrock, Lesley Haberman, & Thron Haley

The very first unit of the semester was spent in the Yasothon province, where we studied agricultural practices and current issues the community is facing. We decided we were interested in studying the effect of farming practices on community dynamics, which broke down to include farmer/farmer, farmer/consumer, and farmer/family relations within and between organic and chemical farmer communities.

For our first exchange, we had the opportunity to meet with the Alternative Agriculture Network (also known as the AAN). The network was founded to create a safe and self-sustaining form of agriculture for communities across Thailand, including those in Yasothon. Funded by government grants, the AAN staff assists local farmers with problems they may encounter, whether they be financial or related to the trying transition from chemical to organic farming. The network doesn’t actively convince chemical farmers to make the change to organic, but the proof of successful incomes and yields among the organic farmers is often hard to argue with. There is a meeting once a month to connect with all members of the AAN to exchange information and collectively discuss their farming practices. This network is fueled by community participation, and the friendships being cultivated through the interaction are strong.

Our second exchange was the organizers of the Green Market. The Green Market is an AAN-run market selling exclusively organic products and certain products tested to contain safe amounts of chemicals (left-overs of chemical fertilizers and biocides). The Green Market currently has three locations in the Yasothon province. We learned that what makes the market special is the farmer/consumer relationship that it fosters. The organizers stressed that most Green Market vendors don’t want to sell their crops anywhere else because they consider their customers to be friends. They choose not to sell their products wholesale, because they want to sell products directly to the consumer in order to protect the price and integrity of the organic food. The Green Market provides consumers with an easy and safe way to know exactly where their food is coming from and how it was grown.

Our next exchange was with a group of chemical farmers in a community not far from that of the organic farmers who sell at the Green Market. We learned that many of them choose to farm chemically because they believe it is easier. For example, one sugarcane farmer uses chemicals because she believes farming under contract is the most reliable way to make a profit in the sugarcane industry. These contracts more often than not require the use chemical fertilizer and sometimes biocides. We also learned that chemical use is, in fact, on the decline. Many farmers still use chemical fertilizer, but few continue to use herbicides and pesticides--sometimes out of fear that the chemicals will leak into neighboring farms. According to one of the farmers we interviewed, biocides are known to cause conditions such as allergies, rotten skin, and contamination in one’s blood. This exchange with the chemical farmers was able to give us greater insight into the tough decisions they face, as well as a more objective view of organic farming.

Perhaps one of the more challenging interviews was the one we had with the Kut Chum District hospital staff. While the information about the hospital’s history and practices was intriguing, we had some difficulty asking questions that were pertinent to our theme and relevant in the context of the hospital’s work. We did, however, come to find interest in their promotion of health via traditional Thai medicine and what they called “safe” food. Traditional medicine included Thai massage, mental health care, and herbal remedies; we found out that use of herbs in place of (or often in conjunction with) modern medicines is not exceedingly popular among patients, but it is something the staff has been promoting. They also spend time teaching community members about the negative effects chemical farming can have on health, while simultaneously encouraging the consumption of “safe,” organic food. They employ local organic farmers to grow the herbs used in the natural remedies, which allows those farmers to be directly contributing to the good health in their community beyond just the food they cultivate.

A meeting with P’Ubon Yoowah was our last exchange of the unit trip. P’Ubon is a major advocate for organic farming in Isaan and a founder of the Green Markets in Khon Kaen and the Yasothon community. He grows rice and raises cows organically on his own, but sells little and instead focuses his time on traveling and spreading the word about sustainable organic farming. P’Ubon is dedicated to seeing all of Thailand transition to organic farming; he has traveled with the AAN to inform farmers of the importance of halting chemical use and of the sustainable yield they can achieve without it. P’Ubon also makes the point to promote a supportive community through organic farming: he helped create the Green Market to not only provide a fair income for the organic farmers, but to build relationships in the agricultural community. When asked about the dynamic in the market, he expressed that there were rarely disagreements among the farmers. This fit into what we had already heard from the Green Market organizers, and the interview with P’Ubon felt like a nice wrap-up to the week on the whole.

Overall the trip was full of discussions with a variety of intelligent and intriguing individuals who each provided us with a valuable perspective on the complicated dynamics of the community. We appreciated the opportunity to spend time learning about life in Yasothon and the difficult decisions that can precede the meals we eat each day in Khon Kaen.

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The Kudchum District Hospital is promoting the good health of the community through increased use of Traditional Thai medicine (including herbal remedies) and “safe” (organic) food. By working closely with local organic farmers in the cultivation of both herbs and food, it provides the opportunity for community members to have a direct, positive impact on the health of their neighbors. The presence of the Green Market on the property also facilitates relationships between the hospital staff and the farmers who sell there. 

By Lesley Haberman

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Kreng Jai

For foreigners spending time in Thailand, it is almost impossible for the overly considerate nature of Thai people to go unnoticed. However, in a recent exchange with P’Ubon Yoowah, an advocate for organic farming and the founder of the Green Market here in Khon Kaen, a name for this lingering phenomenon arose. Kreng Jai directly translates to “awe of heart,” meaning to show consideration to others. Close relationships, like nuclear families don’t typically exhibit Kreng Jai, but when it comes to community and business relationships, it is a prominent social norm in Thai culture.

The organic farming community revolving around the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) in Yasothon province provided and interesting context to the Thai phenomenon of Kreng Jai. Kreng Jai is so deeply ingrained in the Thai way of life, farmers adjust their farming practices to accommodate others. During the exchange with P’Ubon Yoowah he was asked about tensions between neighbors that practice different farming techniques, based on an assumption that organic farmers may resent their neighbors for contaminating the soil with harmful chemicals. His answer was surprising. Organic farmers are not resentful of their neighbors using chemical farming. Rather, chemical farmers felt Kreng Jai and discontinued their use of herbicides to maintain the integrity of the neighbor’s crops. It was a sacrifice for chemical farmers, but it was a choice they were willing to make to avoid tensions with their neighbors. This small example speaks volumes to the Thai culture of being considerate of each other’s feelings.

Another example of Kreng Jai arose in an exchange with local green market vendors. The organic farmers involved with the AAN are incredibly proud of the quality of their organic produce, rice and meat. Therefore, they are strict about the quality control of their markets. At times vendors have tried to pass of non-organic produce bought from a wholesaler as their own organic produce. None of the vendors want to confront another vendor, but they also don’t want to compromise the integrity of the market. As a result, the green markets now have a specific point person to conduct quality control and remove vendors who are not truly organic. Similar tendencies were portrayed at the Khon Kaen City green market with a color coded flag system. In an effort to be inclusive of non-organic farmers transitioning to more sustainable practices, a yellow flag was created to distinguish their booths. Then the truly organic vendors are distinguished by a green flag, symbolising the safest and highest quality products. In western culture, these extra steps may seem too sensitive or even passive aggressive, but in the context of Kreng Jai they are necessary. It is a system to account for the extra layer of complexity and consideration for others that has been an integral part of Thai culture and relationships for centuries.

“Vendors are family and the customers are our friends”, P’Ubon Yoowah said while explaining the relationships between the vendors, customers, and neighboring farmers in the community. Keeping cordial with the community members is not only to keep the peace, but out of respect for the neighbors. Whether it be farmers or consumers, no one has the intention to criticize their friends.

By: Lizzy Dombrock and Cassie Spear

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Small Scale Farming: A Family Business

Ms. Mookda Boonsri, 44, sits on a straw mat outside her home in Ban San Sri, a community of small-scale organic farmers in Yasothon Province. She twiddles her thumbs and looks into the distance with a half smile, preparing to tell her story.

Boom, 25, and Choom, 22, are Ms. Boonsri’s two daughters. Both are married with children and both have moved far away from their childhood home in Ban San Sri. The daughters have made a deal with their mother though: after ten years they shall return to the family-run farm and continue their mother’s hard work.

Ms. Boonsri grows organic rice and raises pigs, water buffalo, and cows. She also helped to create the Green Market, serving on the current committee, and is involved with the inner workings of the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN).

Her story is similar to that of other small-scale organic farmers who have family run farms.

At the age of thirteen, Ms. Boonsri left her family’s farm to go work in Bangkok as a housemaid for a government minister. Her parents did not have the monetary security for their daughter to attend school. They needed the extra income.

Among community members in Ban San Sri, it is a collective fear that when children leave for the city, they will not return. Along with financial reasons, many children who come from an agricultural background are drawn to the fast paced, exciting life in the city. Ms. Boonsri returned to her family’s farm when she was sixteen in order to take care of her sick father. She was married at nineteen and began her life as a farmer.

After getting pregnant at 16, Choom, Ms. Boonsri’s youngest daughter, was faced with a difficult decision. She ultimately left her infant daughter, Mot, with her mother in order to give her baby the best life possible. After leaving the family farm in order to save money and start her adult life, she’s sticking to the promise she made her mother over three years ago.

“Pioneer the market for me” says Choom, who works as a fruit picker on her husband’s farm about seven hours away from Ban San Sri. Regarding her original ten year promise, Choom feels exceptional pride for her entrepreneurial mother, who has paved the way for her own financial future to be strong and successful.

Sometimes however, the busy life of an organic farmer takes a toll on the aging Ms. Boonsri. Boom, her eldest daughter instructs her to, “step back, take a rest,” fearing that her mother is constantly working on her farm, organizing the market, and working with AAN. Ms. Boonsri doesn’t like to rest though, her work is virtuous and she knows that the life of a farmer is hard but worthwhile.

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Where’d Ya Get That?: The Importance of A Farmer-Consumer Relationship

Do you know where your food comes from? What does it mean for food to be “safe?” What does safe food look like? What does it taste like? Smell like?

P’ Ubol Yoowah argues that in a fast-paced society where most people are not growing their own food, one of the most important things an individual can do as a consumer is to know where their food comes from.

“The safest food is the food [where] you know the grower and how those people grow their produce,” P’Ubol, a leading figure in Thailand’s organic agriculture movement, said.

In order to ensure that the food you’re consuming is sustainable and chemical-free, knowing the farmer who grew the food in the first place is essential. Packaged or processed foods can often include extra chemicals that are harmful to one’s health. Cutting out the middle man (e.g., the supermarket or another third party distributor), and getting to know the producers is the best way to make sure that you’re eating healthy food.

P’ Ubol, along with the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN), understands the important connection between farmers and consumers and is fighting to create a safe and sustainable food network. The AAN is an NGO in the Isaan region of Thailand that consists of organic farmers looking for an alternative to a globalized food industry. The organization funds a series of Green Markets that enable a direct relationship between the farmers and the consumers.

Vendors at these Green Markets largely consist of family farmers selling their produce right to the consumer. This food system has fostered a personal relationship. “Vendors are family and customers are friends,” stated Mrs. Suwit Puenpon, a director of the Green Market.

These personal relationships found in the Thai organic food system is something hard to come by in the United States, where food often travels thousands of miles from farmer to supermarket to consumer. American consumers do not know where their food is coming from.

“Getting food from the supermarket is an interaction between you and the information you see, the information that exists on the package,” P’ Ubol said.

In the world of agribusiness, farmers practice monoculture techniques that are dependent on an array of chemicals in order to produce massive yields. The corporatization of food in America has erased any relationship between farmers and consumers. Unless you actively seek out community gardens or are involved in a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, it is hard to guarantee that the food you are eating is both sustainable and safe for your health. The American consumer values both aesthetically pleasing and cheap food, which encourages the use of GMOs and preservatives and fuel companies like Monsanto and DuPont.

As agriculture becomes a globalized business, the trends found in the food system of the United States are spreading elsewhere, including Thailand. Chemical farmers producing rice sell their crop to mills, which have become a middle man in the food chain. The use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides have allowed farmers to produce higher yields and allowed consumers to buy rice for a cheaper price.

The demand for cheap food has turned agriculture into a business, cutting corners on consumers’ health and safety. P’ Ubol explained that an increasingly urban society has separated the consumer from the production process.

However, understanding that a more direct relationship with your food is safe food is not common knowledge. Many of the frequent shoppers at the Green Markets in Isaan consist of former government officials, doctors, lawyers and other higher-educated professionals. Due to a lack of education on a safe food network, people may unknowingly consume harmful chemicals within food.

One of the most important ways to create a society that values where their food comes from is to empower people through education on the importance of a farmer-consumer relationship. In the context of Thailand, the organic grassroots movement is making to do just that.

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The Greenmarkets

Yasothon Greenmarket Yasothon province; open on Tuesdays

Photo taken by Ariana Paredes-Vincent.

A fully organic greenmarket, Yasothon Greenmarket is comprised of farmers from Yasothon province. The market is known for selling multiple varieties of organic rice locally grown by Yasothon farmers. This market gives the Yasothon community a place to find fresh, organic produce to maintain a healthy diet and promote better eating. In the early hours of every Tuesday, Yasothon farmers come together to visit their fellow community members as well as to sell the produce they tend to on a daily basis in their farms.

Kud Chum Greenmarket Kud Chum Hospital; open on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Photo taken by Aven LaRosa.

Farmers from the local Alternative Agricultural Network sell their organic produce at this hospital that boasts an herbal medicine factory and store. Significantly smaller than Yasothon and Khon Kaen greenmarkets, the Kud Chum Hospital Greenmarket only has 10-15 vendors. They sell fresh and fried herbs and vegetables, freshly squeezed juice, and organic pork. The vendors get assistance from the municipality and hospital staff to set up outside of the hospital, with the hospital staff and doctors being the most frequent customers. This greenmarket increases accessibility to organic produce that working professionals would not be able to get otherwise.

Khon Kaen Greenmarket Khon Kaen province; open on Fridays

Published by Khon Kaen Green Market Facebook. Accessible at https://goo.gl/DtyczU.

Organic and inorganic products are sold at this market. The items at the market are marked by green and yellow flags, which indicate whether the item is organic or inorganic. The inorganic items are grown by farmers who are transitioning to organic farming but still use some chemicals. Greenmarket representatives visit the location where each product is grown to ensure its quality. Consumers can buy a variety of items from the market including fresh vegetables and fruits and hot Thai snacks made right in front of you. All of the sellers at Khon Kaen Greenmarket reside locally and grow or make what they are selling themselves, which is one of the requirements of selling at the market.

Why are greenmarkets great?

These greenmarkets are invaluable for both the producers and consumers. For producers, it offers a way to earn additional income by connecting them directly with consumers. For consumers, the greenmarkets may be the only way they can purchase safe, healthy, organic food locally. For both sides, important relationships are cultivated and bridges are made between rural and more urban community members. In a food system that is becoming increasingly disconnected from consumers, greenmarkets provide a direct face-to-face connection between customers and farmers. While farmers always have the option to grow organic food to eat, consumers are much more restricted. The greenmarkets allow consumers the option to buy and eat organic food.

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Women of the Field

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The trust of a farmer is not just her promise

with a certified mark of organic measures

her labor devoted to Earth’s purest treasures

much-admired, praised, trophied throughout the province

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Yasothan families continue traditions

bringing safe, healthy food to Thai people at large

although profits plateau, committed to their charge

their labor of love rarely bringing in riches

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Fearing that their children won’t follow their footsteps

often planning for the future in many respects

concerned that their farmland will perish when they do

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Barely finished high school but more knowledge than most

farming women work the rice fields, fully engrossed

at temple, their bond is strong through and through

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Modernization: The Problem and Solution to the Fate of Small Scale Farms

There is a shift in family dynamics for small scale farmers in the Yasothon Province, Thailand. Children used to live their entire lives on the family farm, taking over as their parents became too old to work. As Isaan is undergoing modernization and urbanization, children leave in their teen years to work in urban settings, though this migration is not permanent. Indeed, many children return to take over the family farm, a direct result of a maintained connection to their farm, family and duty. Modernization potentially aids the return of the child through the common existence of phones and the culture of calling to maintain contact, maintaining a bond with the parents and the farm and ultimately creating a desire to see success in an investment.

As a child is raised working the land with their parents, a cohesive bond between the child and the land they work long hours to cultivate develops. Especially in organic farms, a lot of labor is required to continually plant, water, weed, harvest and sell the product, as well as generally maintaining the house and land. In a family unit, children are expected to help the parents with the labor and daily chores, in addition to attaining an education. The child works to ensure the success of the farm. Such intense work creates a strong connection and investment in the land, creating a lasting tie seen in the promise of the child to return to the land after leaving for an urban setting, a trend seen from the modernization process in Northeast Thailand.

Modernization may end small scale farms. Large companies buying out smaller farms, a common use of machinery and centralized labor forces are all ever-frequent instances of modernization and all pose a threat to small scale farms. Such modernization techniques produce food at a more efficient rate for less cost, and is therefore more profitable and a smart venture for the modern capitalist. Yet this threatens a way of life. Farms, owned by parents, would be forced to sell to larger and increasingly powerful economic forces brought about by modernization if no child returned from the urban setting to take over and continue the small farm. The parents know this, and frequently maintain contact with their child, which benefits in the child’s continued connection with the farm and sense of obligation to return.

Yet modernization may be the solution to saving small scale farms from disappearing entirely. Modernization through the advent of the cell phone helps maintain the connection between the parents who have stayed behind to work on the farm and the adult children in the urban setting. Indeed, some organic farmers call their children living in urban settings every night. To some degree, phone connections maintain the bond between parent and adult child, keeping each other updated on both the status of the farm and the parent’s health. It also continues the deep connection a child has with the farm, as well as places the child as a stakeholder in the well being of the farm. Hearing about the farm and their parents from an urban setting would place a sense of burden on the child to return and help the farm prosper. The connection maintained through phones also helps upkeep the both implicit and explicit obligation of the child to their family and their childhood way of life, making it more likely for the child to return to the farm from their urban experience.

Small scale organic farms in the Yasothon Province in Northeast Thailand are not yet modernized. This could be their downfall, or their saving grace. The current system of small organic farms makes it difficult to hire help for the daily upkeep of the farm, an important factor in understanding the adult child’s importance in the modernization process. Compared to contract farming, which has an established system of leased labor with wages for hired help paid for by the contract and taken out of final pay to the farmer, no such system exists for small organic farms, where the product is sold directly to the consumer for profit. This poses a problem when the parents grow too old to take care of the farm and, through the modernization and urbanization process, the children are not there. Should all the children remain in the city, the small scale farm would likely be bought out with no one able to fight for the farm. It may be the lack of modernization of the small scale farm that saves it. Small scale farming is a unique way of life, and the fear of easily losing it to larger farms coupled with the connection continued through phones may help encourage and pressure children to return to their farms. Such a pressure stems not only from the obligation to their parents, but to their own past and a burden of maintaining such a life style. Yet phones may help increase the likelihood of a child to actually return to the farm through the increased sense of immediacy and connection they bring, helping contribute to a sense of continued connection of the child to the farm on which they were raised.

by Paige Organick

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