Amish Dedication to Farming and Adoption of Organic Dairy Systems - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 240

forward with respect to technology and management systems. From time to time, the
church leaders, with the endorsement of their congregations, will revise an aspect of
the Ordnung to adapt to changes in the community environment. However, once “an
understanding” becomes inscribed in the Ordnung , it is very challenging to revise
it, at least for several years.
Cultural differences between settlements are helpful for understanding adoption
decisions. The decentralized nature of Amish society facilitates subtle change and
divergence between different settlements in terms of adoption decisions (Hostetler
1993 ). There is a different Ordnung for each self-governed settlement, and so the
tension between adopting useful ways of the world and maintaining Amish values
can play out differently in each settlement. Between two Old Order settlements
Hillsboro and Cashton, there are key differences even though they share the same
core values as one Cashton Amish stated about the Hillsboro Amish, “They are
totally different people but not that much different—they have some of the same
values about the future of the children.”
They both moved to Wisconsin, in part, to maintain a more conservative lifestyle
from the pressures of urbanization in Indiana and Ohio. They both milk by hand
and do not utilize a bulk tank. However, one Hillsboro Amish states the following
about Cashton Amish, “There is a different blood pumped through them, they are
more conservative in some ways.” One Cashton Amish elder explained that the
differences between the settlements would be something that “you [as an outsider]
might not understand.” For example, the Cashton Amish do not observe daylight
savings time and stay with what they call “slow” time whereas the Hillsboro Amish
do observe daylight savings time. The Cashton Amish could be considered more
conservative and removed from society in this respect but they are also less reliant
on farming than the Hillsboro Amish, which could be considered more liberal. Thus,
the comparison between these two settlements is not simple and more important, the
reasoning behind the differences are subtle and cannot be easily understood by an
outsider.

12.6 Organic Management Adoption Decisions

The previous sections discussed key oikonomia -bounded rationality principles, or
reasons for dairy farming and essential parts of connections between Amish church
structure and management and technology adoption decisions, that lay the ground-
work for discussing organic dairy adoption decisions. Considering the emphasis on
family labor, and the labor-intensive methods of organic farming that could bring
the family together, the organic approach might appear to be a straight-forward
choice for Amish farm families. However, the Ordnung described earlier does not
offer a clear stance on organic practices. In fact, the Ordnung as a general rule,
addresses modern practices that are more visually perceived or mechanized (e.g.,
the tractor) than less visible and manual management practices and technologies,
such as chemical fertilizers and hybrid seeds (Kraybill and Olshan 1994 ).