Kisan Diwas: Farmers’ Day — and What It Reveals About How Food Businesses Really Work

Kisan Diwas, or Farmers’ Day, is observed in India on the 23rd December to recognise the role farmers play in the economy and food system. But the questions it surfaces go far beyond national borders.

This is not a story about farming as a tradition or identity. It is a story about how business decisions shape risk, power, and stability across global food systems — often far from the consumer’s view.

The first decision that matters: who carries the risk

In most modern food supply chains, farmers carry more risk than almost anyone else.

They absorb:

• weather volatility

• crop failure

• fluctuating input costs

• uncertain demand

At the same time, pricing is often agreed late, contracts are short-term, and margins are tight.

This imbalance is not accidental. It is structural — and it has been repeatedly highlighted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which documents how risk is unevenly distributed across food systems and agricultural supply chains.

When risk is consistently pushed upstream, farmers end up financing uncertainty for the rest of the system.

Price pressure doesn’t disappear — it moves

When buyers push prices down, the pressure doesn’t vanish. It travels.

Farmers respond by:

• prioritising yield over resilience

• cutting back on soil and land investment

• increasing chemical dependency

• taking on debt to smooth income

For consumers, food may appear affordable. For the system, fragility quietly builds.

This is why food shortages and price spikes often feel sudden — the warning signs were embedded in earlier commercial decisions.

The hidden costs behind “cheap food”

Food often appears cheap because some costs are invisible.

These costs include:

• unpaid family labour

• insecure seasonal work

• environmental damage deferred into the future

• postponed reinvestment in land and equipment

From a narrow business lens, this can look efficient. From a systems lens, it is extractive.

Eventually, those deferred costs surface — through supply disruption, safety issues, or social instability.

When contracts reward volume instead of resilience

Many agricultural contracts prioritise output and consistency above all else.

This encourages:

• monocropping

• dependence on single buyers

• reduced biodiversity

• vulnerability to disease and climate shocks

Some food businesses are beginning to shift this by:

• offering longer-term contracts

• paying premiums for resilience practices

• sharing weather or input-cost risk

• supporting diversification

These approaches align with research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which links agricultural resilience directly to wider economic stability and food security.

These decisions rarely make headlines — but they materially change outcomes.

Farmers are not just suppliers — they stabilise the system

When farmers are supported, food systems become more resilient.

We see this where:

• cooperatives strengthen bargaining power

• pricing mechanisms are transparent

• buyers invest in long-term relationships

• risk is shared rather than outsourced

When farmers are squeezed, instability spreads outward — affecting processors, retailers, and eventually households.

Food security is not only a production issue. It is a business relationship issue.

Why Kisan Diwas matters beyond India

Although Kisan Diwas is observed in India, its relevance is global.

Across Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Asia, farmers face the same structural tension:

• responsibility without power

• risk without reward

• dependence without security

The way businesses structure contracts, pricing, and timelines determines whether farming communities — and food systems — can endure increasing volatility.

What this reveals about good business

Good business is not about romanticising farming. It is about designing systems that hold under pressure.

That means recognising that:

• farmers are economic actors, not just producers

• short-term gains can undermine long-term supply

• resilience has a cost — and someone must carry it

Kisan Diwas reminds us that food systems do not begin at the supermarket or factory gate. They begin with people making decisions in fields, often far from the consumers they feed.

Stories of Business exists to surface these connections — to show how everyday business choices shape real lives, long before the consequences reach the rest of us.