- Jennifer M in Ethicurean on an Ohio meeting about preserving farmland quotes David Kline, an Amish farmer: "Though the Amish have long been seen as old-fashioned and too low-tech to be emulated widely, their methods work: from building soil fertility through the use of manure, to promoting advances in simple but efficient technologies (European-designed plows, horse power, small-scale operations). “There is no such thing as post-agricultural society,” he warned, and farming can provide job security if we remember that the goal is “honest living” and to leave the land a better place for our children. “We’re the last people to advocate you should do it our way,” he noted, but with a twinkling, self-deprecating smile, he added, “But it works.” He rounded out his comments with a call for diversity in farming — in ideas as well as in crops — and for an emphasis on community."
- a summary of a panel in Ethicurean on the future.
- a reference in Ethicurean to the blueprint. (Most interesting, as it was dated in 2003 and focused on the low prices for US farm products in 1996-2003 whereas other writers more recently have focused on the high food prices of recent years. It's one problem of agriculture, indeed of economics in general, you come up with a good theory and turn your head and it's been challenged by data.)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Interesting Posts
As I continue to try to catch up, let me note aspects of some posts that caught my eye:
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2 comments:
David Kline was on a panel I wrote of back in April, at a conference for agriculture librarians. I focused more on the writings of Randy James, however, and highlighted the farming lessons James has taken from the Amish. Powerful stuff, I think, and I agree that the Amish could prove to be our teachers in the how to farm more holistically.
Thank you for the comment. (They're always welcome.) I disagree,though, at least if I understand the comment. I've outlined my rationale in a new post today.
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