As an ecologist, I would also like to make the case for smallholders. The impacts of monoculture on biodiversity and water quality are often devastating, because they reduce biodiversity and hence ecological resilience. This requires more pesticides and causes water contamination (also from inefficient uptake of non-organic fertilizers) and becomes a water quality management problem. The greater diversity of crops and animal husbandry allows for some native vegetation to remain, and for shorter and more efficient nutrient cycling. All these things support a more sustainable agriculture. It conserves the soil and requires less inputs for agricultural production. From that perspective it is probably more efficient than large scale farming for food production.
As an ecologist, I would also like to make the case for smallholders. The impacts of monoculture on biodiversity and water quality are often devastating, because they reduce biodiversity and hence ecological resilience. This requires more pesticides and causes water contamination (also from inefficient uptake of non-organic fertilizers) and becomes a water quality management problem. The greater diversity of crops and animal husbandry allows for some native vegetation to remain, and for shorter and more efficient nutrient cycling. All these things support a more sustainable agriculture. It conserves the soil and requires less inputs for agricultural production. From that perspective it is probably more efficient than large scale farming for food production.