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Looking Forward: The Future of Agriculture
Posted on Mon, January 05, 2009 by Jerusha Klemperer
2 Comments | Categories: Farms and Farming, News, Current Events, Policy,
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For The Future
by Wendell Berry
Planting trees early in spring,
we make a place for birds to sing
in time to come. How do we know?
They are singing here now.
There is no other guarantee
that singing will ever be.
That Wendell Berry, always keeping an eye forward, asking: are we doing now what we need to do to assure there will be a tomorrow? In yesterday’s NY Times, Berry teamed up with The Land Institute‘s Wes Jackson to talk about soil, and investing in it long-term. They point out that soil has no technological substitute and that more of it cannot be purchased it with money. It seems like basic stuff. Right?
Yet, meanwhile, over at the Chicago Tribune they’re also talking agriculture on their opinions page. In what seems like a rebuttal, former Senator George McGovern and Marshall Matz express doubts about sustainable agriculture’s ability to be all things to all people, with sustainable ag and commerical ag each having their place in the world. It ends with:
“We need to get beyond ideology and depend more on science. We need to develop a new understanding of agriculture based on our larger goals if we are to craft a long-term food and farm policy that works. Agriculture has a responsibility to adjust and contribute to improving the environment. But let’s stick to science and avoid an ideological debate about agricultural practices.”
Member Comments
From Patrick on Tue, January 06, 2009
Personally, I thought that science was ideology in practice (be it pretty or ugly, revered or reviled). And in the case of sustainable, truly natural farming, to separate the idea from the science (nature’s way of doing what she does so well without our help) cannot be done, isn’t done on the small scale. We’re witnessing this dissection and disconnect with the industrial organic complex. And where I am still a capitalist at heart, I think we all could have foreseen this coming. But is it laudable? No. Wholly sustainable farming is not a religion. I don’t appreciate that connotation in the above quote. And we know how heated the religion vs. science debate gets. Feeding the country’s citizens healthy, fresh and affordable isn’t faith, it’s a need.
From Matt on Wed, January 07, 2009
To me the comments may be a way to begin to limit the public discourse; painting a sustainability ethic as the “other” and not connected to the science of agriculture. What is probably meant by a “food and farm policy that works” is a policy that works for large corporations and their allies.
One point that might be made is that commercial Ag and sustainable Ag are not necessarily mutually exclusive. With respect to ideological debate…there is plenty of that already w/in science e.g., stem cells. It is very difficult if not impossible to craft policy w/o encountering idealogical differences that must be debated. For example, what should be done regarding the longterm educational needs of migrant workers and their children who may or may not be officially recognized as citizens of the United States.
