Wendell Berry Reading Group No.6½ - Quantity Versus Form (part two)

An exploration of the agricultural section of this important essay.

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Welcome to another Wendell Berry Reading Group post. We are continuing where we left off last time in Quantity Versus Form part one, and will be considering in this post the explicitly agricultural themes covered in this essay-of-two-halves. For paid subscribers, the Zoom links to the live reading group discussion taking place on Friday 26th January 8.00pm UK Time are at the bottom of this post. There is still ample time for others to sign up for this discussion (and thus receive full access to all future reading group posts and discussions) by signing up using the button below.

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Guided reading questions

As always, the first few questions are free for everyone.

1. We left of last time considering how the industrial mindset is concerned almost exclusively with quantity and how this might contradict with the patterns and form of the organic/natural world. 1) Why do you think the industrial mindset is infatuated with quantity? 2) Is there something inherent in industrialism which necessitates this focus?¹

2. Berry argues the consortium of big-agri, agricultural science, and the food industry conspire together and have an exclusive focus on increasing productivity ad infinitum. He then states that their rejection of limits is fundamental to enabling this mindset. 1) How important do you think the rejection of limits is in causing/permitting the growth at all costs mind set/are their any other contributing factors that Berry has overlooked?² 2) Can one commit to endless growth whilst respecting natural limitations or is this an impossibility (as Berry would argue). 3) How might respecting and implementing the ‘doctrine of return’ (see the essay Agrarian Standard in this book) be the necessary antidote to the industrial growth mindset?