The Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture
Wendell Berry
In this article she discusses how farms used to be very diversified and local. These family farms dealt with all aspects of food production and all types of produce. Even though they weren't perfect in all aspects such as wastefulness, they did form a tight farming community. Since World War Two our farms have been becoming fewer and more expensive to run. We no longer can have a small operation and generations of farmers are moving on to something else that has more potential. With the modernization of agricultural techniques comes the disintegration of the culture and the communities. The institutions of agriculture have been driving farmers to grow so that they become efficient. This has put all that haven't grown out of business and is still putting those who grow at risk of others who have grown bigger. This has lead to our farmers values changing from those of husbandry to those of finance and technology. The definitive relationships in the universe are not competitive but interdependent and we must have culture with agriculture. We have ended up creating a moral ignorance in our agricultural society that has changed its culture.
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