Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T21:57:36.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Moral confidence in agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Robert L. Zimdahl
Robert L. Zimdahl
Affiliation:
Weed Science, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 (rzimdahl@agsci.colostate.edu).
Get access

Abstract

Those engaged in agriculture possess a definite but unexamined moral confidence or certainty about the correctness of what they do. This paper examines the origins of that confidence and questions its continued validity. The paper argues that those engaged in agriculture are morally confident about the rightness of their activity. The basis of the moral confidence is not obvious to those who possess it or to the public. In fact, the moral confidence that pervades agricultural practice is potentially harmful because it is unexamined. Suggestions for expanding agriculture's moral scope are made to approach the question of where moral values originate, and what are, or ought to be, the moral standards for agriculture in our post-industrial, information-age society. Part of expanding agriculture's moral scope will be giving up some of our hubris about the goodness of our culture and its agriculture. The paper advocates analysis of what it is about our agriculture and our society that thwarts or limits our aspirations for agriculture and needs modification. We must strive to nourish and strengthen those features of our agriculture that are beneficial and change those that are not. To fit ourselves to this task, we must be sufficiently confident to study ourselves and our institutions and dedicated to the task of modifying both.

Keywords

agricultural practicemoral scopemoral values
Type
Commentary
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 44 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Aiken, W. 1984. The goals of agriculture. In Haynes, R. and Lanier, R. (eds.). Agriculture, Change and Human Values – A Multidisciplinary Conference. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. p. 29–54.Google Scholar
2.Allen, P. (ed.). 1993. Food for the Future: Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability. Wiley and Sons, New York. p. 14.Google Scholar
3.Avery, D. 1997. Saving the planet with pesticides and biotechnology and European farm reform. In British Crop Protection Conference – Weeds. British Crop Protection Council, Farnham, Surrey, UK. p. 3–18.Google Scholar
4.Barrow, J.D. 1995. The Artful Universe. Back Bay Books, Boston, MA. p. 246.Google Scholar
5.Berry, W. 1977. The agricultural crisis as a crisis of culture. In The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. Avon Books, New York. p. 39–48.Google Scholar
6.Berry, W. 1999. In Distrust of Movements. The Land Report 65 (Fall 1999). The Land Institute, Salina, KS. p. 3–7.Google Scholar
7.Beus, D.E., and Dunlap, R.E.. 1992. The alternative-conventional agriculture debate: Where do agricultural faculty stand? Rural Sociol. 57:363–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Blatz, C.V. 1995. Communities and agriculture: Constructing an ethic for the provision of food and fiber. In Decision Making and Agriculture: The Role of Ethics. An International Conference on Agricultural Ethics. Rural Research Centre, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro. p. 207–240.Google Scholar
9.Capra, F. 1996. The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. Anchor Books, New York. p. 11.Google Scholar
10.Carson, R. 1962. Silent Spring. Houghton Mfflin Co. Boston, MA.Google Scholar
11.Cate, J.R., and Hinkle, M.K.. 1993. Integrated Pest Management. Special Report. National Audubon Society, New York.Google Scholar
12.Day, B.E. 1978. The morality of agronomy. In Pendleton, J.W. (ed.). Agronomy in Today's Society. ASA Special Pub. No. 33. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, p. 19–28.Google Scholar
13.den Hond, F., Groenewegen, P., and Vorley, W.T.. 1999. Globalization of pesticide technology and meeting the needs of low-input sustainable agriculture. Amer. J. Alternative Agric. 14:50–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Goldschmidt, W. 1998. Conclusion: The urbanization of rural America. In Thu, K.M. and Durrenberger, E.P. (eds.). Pigs, Profits, and Rural Communities. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY. p. 183–198.Google Scholar
15.Harman, W.W. 1976. An Incomplete Guide to the Future. W. W. Norton & Co., New York. p. 1.Google Scholar
16.Holt, D. 1997. Practical ethics in agronomic research. Adv. Agron. 60:149–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Huntington, S.P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. Touchstone Books, New York. p. 360.Google Scholar
18.Jackson, W. 1980. New Roots for Agriculture. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE. Friends of the Earth Press, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
19.Jones, L. 1994. Land grants under the microscope. High Country News (May 1):8–9.Google Scholar
20.Kaplan, R.D. 1999. Kissinger, Metternich, and Realism. Atlantic Monthly (June):73. 74. 76–78, 80–82.Google Scholar
21.Kirschenmann, F., and Youngberg, G.. 1997. Letter from the President and the Executive Director. Annual Report. H.A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, Greenbelt, MD. p. 2Google Scholar
22.Kroeber, A.L., and Kluckhohn, C.. 1952. Values and relativity. In Culture, a Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University 47(1):174–179.Google Scholar
23.Leopold, A. 1947. A Sand County Almanac. 1966 Edition, Ballantine Books, New York. p. 238.Google Scholar
24.Ludwig, D., Hilborn, R., and Walters, C.. 1993. Uncertainty, resource exploitation, and conservation: Lessons from history. Science 260:17, 36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Melchert, N. 1995. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. 2nd ed.Mayfield Publishing Co, Mountain View, CA. p. 63, 452.Google Scholar
26.Merton, T. 1960. Rain and the rhinoceros. In Raids on the Unspeakable. New Directions, New York. p. 9–23.Google Scholar
27.Murray, D. 1994. Cultivating Crisis: The Human Cost of Pesticides in Latin America. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
28.Perkins, J. 1982. Insects, Experts, and the Insecticide Crisis. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Ponting, C. 1991. A Green History of the Earth: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations. Penguin Books, New York, p. 17.Google Scholar
30.Rolston, H. 1975. Is There an Ecological Ethic? Ethics 85:93–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31.Rorty, R. 1999. Phony Science Wars: A Review of Hacking, I. 1999. The Social Construction of What? Atlantic Monthly (November): 120–122.Google Scholar
32.Ruttan, V. 1991. Moral responsibility in agricultural research. In Thompson, P.B. and Stout, B.A. (eds.). Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. p. 107–123.Google Scholar
33.Shlain, L. 1998. The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. The Penguin Group, New York. p. 395.Google Scholar
34.Sidey, H. 1998. The Greatest Story Never Told: The Food Miracle in America. H.A. Wallace Annual Lecture. H.A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture. Greenbelt, MD.Google Scholar
35.Singer, P. (ed.). 1994. Ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. p. 3–13.Google ScholarPubMed
36.Stauber, K.N., Hassebrook, C., Bird, E.A.R., Bultena, G.L., Hoiberg, E.O., MacCormack, H., and Menanteau-Horta, D.. 1995. The promise of sustainable agriculture. In Bird, E.A.R., Bultena, G.L. and Gardner, J.C. (eds.). Planting the Future: Developing an Agriculture that Sustains Land and Community. Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames, IA. p. 3–15.Google Scholar
37.Stout, B.A., and Thompson, P.B.. 1991. Beyond the large farm. In Thompson, P.B. and Stout, B.A., (eds.). Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. p. 265–279.Google Scholar
38.Thompson, P.B. 1986. The social goals of agriculture. J. Agric. Human Values 3(4):32–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39.Thompson, P.B. 1988. Ethical dilemmas in agriculture: The need for recognition and resolution. J. Agric. Human Values 5(4):4–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40.Thompson, P.B. 1989. Values and food production. J. Agric. Ethics 2:209–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41.Thompson, P.B., Ellis, G.L., and Stout, B.A.. 1991a. Values in the agricultural laboratory. In Thompson, P.B. and Stout, B.A. (eds.). Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. p. 3–31.Google Scholar
42.Thompson, P.B., Varner, G.A., and Tolman, D.A.. 1991b. Environmental goals in agricultural science. In Thompson, P.B. and Stout, B.A. (eds.). Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. p. 217–236.Google Scholar
43.Van Den Bosch, R. 1978. The Pesticide Conspiracy. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44.Warren, G.F. 1998. Spectacular increases in crop yields in the United States in the twentieth century. Weed Technol. 12:752–760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45.Will, G.F. 1999. The Last Word. Newsweek (May 24):84.Google Scholar
46.Wright, A. 1990. The Death of Ramon González: The Modern Agricultural Dilemma. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
47.Wuerthner, G. 1994. Get Lost. High Country News (May 1, 1995):21.Google Scholar