Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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of national standards) is a form of modernization. What is useful about this
article is that the author always links the theoretical notions back to real
farmers and shows how they fit into the broader philosophical discussions.
Premodern societies weremostly subsistence basedwith no given separation
between culture and nature. Along with industrialization came the modern
era. For our purposes, the key thing is that science became the “privileged
form of access to knowledge - especially knowledge about nature” (147).
Postmodern (or reflexive modern) is characterized by questioning and real-
izing there is not simply one way to understand nature. Individual organic
farmers fit into all three of these categories - more premodern lifestyles
versus a scientific approach to organic methods versus thoughtful, inten-
tional choosing of an organic farming lifestyle. Add to this theorizing the
issue of how national organic certification standards (institutionalization)
influence the modernization of organic farming. Kaltoft lucidly describes
these complex ideas with a bit of humor: “Going beyond modernity means
to a certain extent becoming premodern again, but in the knowledge that
we now live in hundreds of Middle Ages at the same time” (156). This means
that organic farming is still linked to the premodern ideas of unity in nature
and culture, but at the same time is postmodern in the sense that there
are numerous human and nonhuman entities that are mobilized to create
knowledge and technology in the organic movement.
Another study delves into the notion of sustainability in organic farming
(Rigby and Cáceres 2001). These authors struggle to define sustainability
(it is obviously complex) and explain how organic agricultural methods
(also complex) may fit within this broad concept. They say that “what is a
sustainable technique will vary both temporally and spatially”(23). True, but
unfortunately they never emphasize the key point: all forms of agriculture
are unsustainable. Organic methods may seek to do the least damage, but
any agriculture upsets the balance of nature. They note that research has
pointed us in opposite directions: organic methods are the only form of
sustainable farming versus claims that organic methods cannot be consid-
ered sustainable. Organic farming is the only formof sustainable agriculture
that is codified with specific written regulations, but these standards only
refer to production methods and not to issues of social justice, ecological
responsibility, or rural sustainability.
It would be nearly impossible to assess these philosophical issues within
a certification system, as these vary among individuals, cultures, and na-
tions. There may be social goals within an organic system, but these cannot
be judged through production standards. One interesting question arises:
how can we justify the sustainability of organic farming as it exists within
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