Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ally fl ooded, who is going to develop solutions to these place-bound
changes? Publicly funded advisors are in a unique position to develop
farming techniques that prioritize the protection of agricultural environ-
ments and to use their local credibility to act as leaders for environmental
change.
If Cooperative Extension survives in the twenty-fi rst century, it will likely
do so through the same negotiations over its mission that have taken place
since the formation of the land-grant system in 1862. These negotiations
point to the limits facing farm advisors as agents of change. Throughout
this topic I have emphasized that the kind of local expertise employed by
farm advisors is most suitable for promoting modest change, or repair as
maintenance. What would it take to
transform
U.S. agriculture? Several of
the examples presented in earlier chapters suggest that local politics are not
necessarily conducive to transformative repair, especially given the struc-
tures of power that local elites shape and control. Instead, state policies and
regulation are the most likely source of wider change. In an era where the
term
Big Government
is not a winning discourse, state and national politics
are nevertheless an essential venue for promoting change in agriculture.
When the state weighs in on farm labor practices or environmental protec-
tion, growers and researchers listen. While the wealthiest growers have
shown considerable infl uence over the political process themselves, the
very consolidation of U.S. agriculture has paradoxically limited the voice
of farm interests, especially compared with their historic power.
A key factor in the success of legislative and regulatory change for agri-
culture are the voices of scholars and intellectuals providing new ideas and
pushing for alternative visions of food production. Although this adds yet
another layer of expertise and interests to an already complex ecology of
power, knowledge of how agricultural systems work may be used to under-
stand the potential constraints on change as well as to propose change. In
particular, I believe that the ethnographic approach I have taken here
provides a useful method for modeling order and change. By going to local
places and investigating the connections between place, practice, and
power, ethnographers can learn about these local ecologies, write and
teach about them, and reimagine the links and fl ows. U.S. agriculture will
continue to change—the true dilemma is whether in the future we can
balance the interests and practices of farm communities, consumers, and
agricultural ecologies.
