The Search for an Agricultural Ethic

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All is not well in our food system. This assumption, that corrective action is needed, mandates the development of alternatives to the present food system. I label this quest "the search for an agricultural ethic". Part One of this book examines the current leading alternative model: ecological agriculture. Ecological agriculture is built on first principles drawn from the study of wild ecosystems, hence it misconstrues the nature of agriculture and unduly constrains its potential. Part Two of this book searches for a second, more satisfactory, model of alternative agriculture - one based on agrarian philosophy. The first agrarian principle is the tripartite division of the environment: the notion that working landscapes are different from either built environments or wild places. The second principle, that farming is a fit occupation for humans, is based on the idea that in working landscapes, humans are neither conquerors nor plain citizens. Farming is a unique partnership between humans and nature in which both the farm and the farmer are improved. The challenge is to develop a suite of agricultural policies that will allow this unique relationship to flourish.