Amish Dedication to Farming and Adoption of Organic Dairy Systems - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 239

12.5 Amish Church Structure and Adoption Decisions:

Overview

This section explores how the Amish church structure affects management decision-
making; this lays the groundwork for reviewing the complex subtleties of the organic
dairy decision in the next section. Church rules and the non-hierarchical nature
of the Amish church as a whole and the resulting diversity between settlements
is an important factor in explaining diverse farm management decision making
across Amish communities. Although the Amish are by no means static in terms of
technology adoption, “changes are clearly not encouraged, vocalized or rewarded
in Amish society” (Hostetler 1993 , p. 302). When major changes occur in Amish
technology choice, they typically focus on issues of survival. The decrease in
the herd size discussed earlier illustrates choices based on survival. Change can
also occur because of diversity in how the rules are enforced between different
districts in a settlement. Sometimes practices and technologies just get adopted,
and they never really become a serious issue because they are not deemed a public
threat. Although community norms that shape their lifestyle, such as simplicity in
consumption standards, have contributed to the Amish economic viability on the
land, community norms on management practices may also make it more difficult
for them to compete on the modern farm landscape. It seems that Amish technology
and management adoption choices create tensions between maintaining values and
the need for economic survival on the land.
The Ordnung (Ordinance), or church rules, are the social glue and guiding
principle of the Amish community and tend to change very slowly over the years
(Kraybill and Nolt 2004 ). These rules unify the church body and they evoke a
value-loss aversion principle when it is not clear how and to what extent the values
will be compromised. Some technologies and management practices are avoided
as a precautionary measure that combines oikonomia- based values and bounded
rationality. The Ordnung reflects the tension between adopting useful ways of the
world (e.g. technologies and practices) in the midst of economic challenges and
establishing guidelines for navigating economic sustenance and shared values. One
Cashton Amish elder states: “If we don't have an Ordinance to live by, we can't
move forward as a community. What we have in common holds us together [

]we
are trying not to slip like other communities. It is made for the safety of the people
like rules of the roads.” Any decision that may have a connection to common values
in the midst of uncertainty emphasizes safety and caution. It is all about a slippery
slope or a sliding board as some Amish may describe it. They fear that giving an
inch, will give up a mile.
The oikonomia -bounded rationality nature of the Ordnung is also evident because
it appears that the Amish elders do not discuss the Ordnung in a very systematic way
during their meetings. Such discussion instead is left for the bi-annual Ordnung
review and is used as a means to help create unity before taking Communion.
Different ideas even if they do not directly challenge the Ordnung are suspect. There
is much more emphasis on unity per se than there is on remaining static or looking

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