The Fields are Ripe but the Workers are Absent
Our farm landscapes are going ever quieter and ever more degraded from the absence of Good Farmers
Our fields are becoming increasingly silent — devoid not only of birdsong, but also of the sound of working men. We have modernism and its vocal proponents largely to thank for this. “There are too many farmers in our landscapes” they voraciously argue. “Dirty manual labour” they claim “is not fitting for the modern, sophisticated, and technologically orientated man”. Nature has been subdued and dominated by the machine, thus the original mandate given to man has been “fulfilled”1. Now, they argue, “is the time to sit, eat, and be merry — there is nothing more we have to do with the ground with our own bare hands”. We are freed, finally free!, from having to make our living from obeying and following the rhythms and limitations of the land, and are now able to pursue “higher forms” of development and economy - such as limitless economic growth and mass consumerism in the urban, man-made domains…
Folly upon folly, delusion upon delusion.
No matter what the enlightened modernists and industrialists may believe, instead of being freed from nature, we all — even we western inhabitants of the 21st Century — remain completely and inextricably dependent on soil, bees, grass, and trees (selecting just a few of the constituents of the wild that disproportionately influence agricultural production). The soil in the fields remains essential for our crops to grow. The bees work hard to pollinate our crops and trees so that they can produce their valuable life-giving seed and fruit. And the grass still feeds the cattle on a thousand hills who convert what is inedible to us, into nutrient rich protein and milk. For these life-giving ecological processes to function at their optimum, these plants and animals need to be nurtured, stewarded, and protected. It is our many, many Good Farmers who remain the best workers for these crucial tasks.
It stands to reason therefore, that those who work in our agricultural lands stewarding the life-giving capacity of the soil, should be among our most cherished and valued workers — seeing as they are responsible for providing our daily sustenance, without which there would be no economy. Instead, in the “developed” West, they are told in no uncertain terms “to get big or get out” and that there are “too many of you in the landscape”. In some influential circles, farmers are even collectively maligned as ecological criminals, solely responsible for the dire condition of the environment. Reducing the number of farmers is seen as a way to improve the state of our economy by the industrialists whilst a means of improving the state of our environment by the environmentalists. A coveted win-win “solution” in this age of efficiency.
This solution is anything but, and is instead a dangerous, even obnoxious delusion. For Good Farmers, using their deeply-attuned and locally-adapted skills and time-tested wisdom, are those who are best placed to feed well our growing populations, whilst providing a convivial environment for the diversity of species who call the farmland home. It is the agri-industrialists, with their mega-sized fields and input-drenched lands who are most responsible for the widespread environmental degradation observed in our farmlands as well as the proliferation of cheap, nutrient poor foods. They are the ones we need fewer of. But as Wendell Berry astutely remarks, we never hear it said that there are too many agricultural industrialists or too many middle men in the food value chain2 (each creaming off their share of the profits). No, these individuals — self-bloated on their own perceived importance and high profits — declare to those lower down the food chain that “There are too many of you — we in our corporate towers armed with our statistics know best.”. “You would be better off in the cities” they say, “doing a job that actually helps economic growth. Never mind your lack of skills for urban work — there is always a need for low-skilled workers!”.
Folly upon folly, delusion upon delusion.
The tragedy is though that time and time again we see the agri-industrialists, contrary to the good of society, getting their way. They kill off the small and Good Farmers through competition, policy capture, seed laws, and lobbying — and consolidate the fields the defeated small farmers leave behind. Our Good Farmers, through this perverse and unnatural selection, are becoming a dying breed — but one we cannot afford to go extinct. For if they go extinct, we shall lose the time-matured, well-adapted local knowledge which is indispensable for a healthy and sustainable food system. Such knowledge is too precious to lose and should be guarded with utmost vigour.
However, the agri-industrialists arrogantly view this precious knowledge (and the farmers who embody it) as dispensable and replaceable. Replaceable by machines and agrochemicals — the products of the agri-corporations — which incidentally are well adapted to the large fields created from the consolidation of many previously independent farms. Rather than being dependent on soil, nature, and Good Farmers, the agri-corporations would rather we become dependent on them and their products. Their own scientific, input-based, and technological solutions are, they claim, much more efficient, dependable, and profitable than the wise old farmer and his outdated ways. What they neglect to tell us is that their solutions are the proven agents of degradation3, which give huge profits to the agri-corporations and supposedly increase efficiency, while at the same time creating new problems of mass degradation (of soil, water, and biodiversity) that require new economies and technologies to be created to “solve” them4. Thus, the spiral of decline in our agricultural landscapes continues which paradoxically delivers a steady flow of cash to the agri-corporations shareholders.
The shamefulness of this arrogant modern attitude (that we can dispense with small and Good Farmers) is betrayed in its low and distorted view of human development. This attitude had its genesis in Rostov’s Stages of Growth model5 where we see that traditional farming is right at the bottom of the so-called development hierarchy whilst a mass consumeristic society occupies the pinnacle of humanity’s development. It is a sorry state of affairs — that we have come to view consuming a higher end than stewarding effectively and convivially the life and creation we have been entrusted with. That we see the need to free people from what should be the most dignified form of work shows just how inverted our values have become. And anyway, is sitting at a desk in front of a screen the highest form of work? Is moving only your fingers rather than moving your whole body really more skilful? Is commuting in trains packed tighter than a tin of sardines really more dignified than getting your hands dirty in the soil? Are economies dominated by such commuters really more advanced and developed? Traditional farmers (who are almost always small farmers) are amongst the hardest working, most skilful members of our world, able to deal with the range of complex challenges that nature throws at them in ways that are ingenious, developed over centuries, and often incredibly aesthetically beautiful. We should be urgently protecting and supporting such farmers not telling them to “hurry up and get developed.”.
It should be obvious now that we need more (Good) farmers not fewer. Man was made to work the land. When we as a society abandon this duty we subject the land instead to those things that purport to do our job for us but in turn cause it harm — the agents of degradation — heavy machinery and agrochemicals. Having reneged on our duty we are responsible and held to account for the condition of the land — which contrary to our modern understanding is still our responsibility. We forget as well that the land will respond to our dereliction of duty. Eventually, an abused and degraded land will refuse, no matter how much we pump it full of inputs and machines, to produce a harvest — let alone a healthy one.
We need our Good Famers - let us support them.
Further Reading
Although this subduing and domination are a gross distortion of the original mandate given to man in Genesis. Our subduing and dominion are meant to mirror God’s dominion of us — which is a loving, self-giving, gracious dominion/rule. See Brown, E. ‘Ruiling God’s World God’s Way. Dominion in Psalm 8’. in Creation Care and The Gospel. Lausanne Library.
Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
Wendell Berry, Farming and the Global Economy.
Environmental problems caused by technology and inputs are brilliant for economic growth — but dire for the environment.
The arrogant, obnoxious attitude that farmers are "economic criminals" baffles the mind. To overlook that they provide our basic subsistence, and that without them the economy would be the least of our concerns, seems to obvious a point to overlook. We are blessed to live next to Mennonite country and are surrounded by countless small farms, where we one can get produce, eggs, meat, honey etc. Fortunately, the Mennonites are a growing community and one can only hope that their knowledge of the land will get passed down for generations to come.
This essay drives home a question I’ve been pondering myself:
What would it look like to be honest about the results of good, small agriculture?
I think we (the Berryites) are commonly caught in trying to speak the same language as the banks and industrialists, where I don’t think small ag can beat out big ag; small ag will never be as monetarily profitable. Good, small ag will, however, always foster a greater quality of life for individuals and communities, and that is worth the economic “losses” to me.