Green Beans 2014
SIX AGRICULTURAL FALLACIES by Wendell Berry
Back in the Spring I started a six part review of the above-titled essay. I only addressed the first three points of the essay when the busyness of the season and other topics I wanted to cover got in the way of completing the review. So lets get back on track by refreshing our memory before moving on to the fourth point:
1.) That agriculture can be treated as an industry;
2.) That a sound agricultural economy can be based on an export market;
3.) That the "free market" can preserve agriculture;
It is a well recognized fact that, more often than not, when quantity increases quality decreases. Obviously, there will be some exceptions, but generally this is the case and in the area of agriculture it is also generally true. Modern agriculture is so fixated on "production (i.e. quantity) that it will do almost anything to achieve this goal of increased production. A good case in point; rolling the dice by altering the genetic code of plants and animals is looked on as a "marvelous technological breakthrough" because it will help "feed the world" (increase quantity). Seriously? Messing with God's designs in the natural world just so the huge multi-national ag companies can make insane profits? There's got to be a better way, there is a better way. That better way won't make the huge agri businesses a ton of money but there is a better way. Its called small scale, diversified, natural farming. Many people are beginning to see and sense that themselves, but of course the agricultural elites will never admit it (because it will hurt their profits). But there is absolutely a better way.
Imagine for a few minutes what our world, our country and our communities would look like if stewardship (mandated by God in Genesis 2) and health (the health of soils, crops, animals, farms, farmers, farmers families and farming communities) were the agricultural standard that everything was measured by, instead of just "production". What if only new technologies were employed that increased our abilities to be BETTER stewards of the land and truly increased the health of soil, crops, animals and people? What if all of us thought in terms of better stewardship and increased health instead of what will make me the most money? It would be a different world, a better world, wouldn't it?
Blessings to you my friends - and try a little "moonlight watering! ! It will do wonders for your stress level! !
Todd