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In the last forty years, agriculture in the industrialised
countries has undergone a revolution. That has dramatically
increased yields, but it has also led to extensive rural
depopulation; widespread degradation of the environment;
contamination of food with agrochemicals and bacteria; more routine
maltreatment of farm animals; and the undermining of Third World
economies and livelihoods through unfair trading systems.
Confronted by mounting evidence of environmental harm and social
impacts, mainstream agronomistis and policy-makers have debatedly
recognized the need for change. 'Sustainable agricultutre' has
become the buzz phrase. But that can mean different things to
different people. We have to ask: sustainable agriculture for whom?
Whose interests are benefiting? And whose are suffering? At issue
is the question of power - of who controls the land and what it
produces. Most of the changes currently under discussion will
actually strengthen the status quo and the underlying causes of the
damage. The result will be greater intensification of farming,
environmental destruction and inequality. There are no simple
off-the-shelf alternatives to industrial agriculture. There are,
however, groups throughout the world, who have contributed to this
report and who are working together on a new approach. An
agriculture that, in Wendell Berry's words, 'depletes neither soil
nor people'. Originally published in 1992
In the last forty years, agriculture in the industrialised
countries has undergone a revolution. That has dramatically
increased yields, but it has also led to extensive rural
depopulation; widespread degradation of the environment;
contamination of food with agrochemicals and bacteria; more routine
maltreatment of farm animals; and the undermining of Third World
economies and livelihoods through unfair trading systems.
Confronted by mounting evidence of environmental harm and social
impacts, mainstream agronomistis and policy-makers have debatedly
recognized the need for change. 'Sustainable agricultutre' has
become the buzz phrase. But that can mean different things to
different people. We have to ask: sustainable agriculture for whom?
Whose interests are benefiting? And whose are suffering? At issue
is the question of power - of who controls the land and what it
produces. Most of the changes currently under discussion will
actually strengthen the status quo and the underlying causes of the
damage. The result will be greater intensification of farming,
environmental destruction and inequality. There are no simple
off-the-shelf alternatives to industrial agriculture. There are,
however, groups throughout the world, who have contributed to this
report and who are working together on a new approach. An
agriculture that, in Wendell Berry's words, 'depletes neither soil
nor people'. Originally published in 1992
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