Wendell Berry on the Culture of Agriculture (Link) In his speech at the “Agriculture for a Small Planet” Symposium in 1974, Wendell Berry discusses the impact that modern American agriculture has on small family farms, farming communities, and the environment. Berry's passion for the subject stems from his own life experience. He mentions he is in the sixth generation of a Henry Co., Kentucky farming family at the beginning of the speech and was not involved in advanced agricultural education. His message remains relevant today as we face similar challenges in the agriculture sector. One point that stood out to me the most in the speech was Berry’s criticism of modern agricultural mindsets. "Get big or get out" was promoted by many industry experts and agribusinessmen. He points out how this mentality values efficiency and profits over …show more content…
Another problem Berry found with industrial agriculture was the exploitation of natural resources. The push for large-scale farming operations, which usually focus on cultivating a single crop, led to the depletion of soil nutrients and caused a widespread reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This not only harms the health of the soil and nearby ecosystems, but it also contributes to water pollution and can lead to eutrophication. When discussing sanitation, Berry mentioned how germs that used to be in our food have been replaced with poison. Of course, he is talking about pesticides and the chemicals that create health risks for farm workers and nearby communities. Berry highlights other environmental consequences of modern agriculture as well, such as the disuse of marginal lands and the destruction of farm culture. He emphasizes that farming is not solely business-oriented, but a way of life, and when it is viewed solely as a means of profit, the land and community suffer
Wendell Berry writes in his book, “What are people for?” a thesis that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. He feels that technology is seen and used as the easy way to produce food faster and more efficiently. With this modern way of farming comes the idea that we need to work smarter not harder which is not always true. The goal is comfort and leisure and Berry feels that this is the reason for the down fall of the agricultural culture. He believes that hard work and pride in workmanship is more important than material goods and money. This was by no means a perfect society. The people had often been violent wand wasteful in the use of land of each other. Its present ills have already taken root in it. Even with these faults, this society appreciated the hard work of farming compared to the easy way of living today.
These changes, from difficult manual labor to chemicals and genetically modified products, are in his opinion a necessary and modern action. When faced with the duty of feeding the world it would be a hard pressed farmer who could be individually responsible for every plant and small field under their care, I agree. Pulling away from nature is not ideal in the least, but with such a large population and so few farmers it feels like we do not really have much of a choice in the matter. These advancements, however, do allow for farmers to made less of an impact on the nature around them, which is a positive since we only have a single world around us to live in. Destroying it is not really a solution to any problem, no matter how large. “…We have to farm ‘industrially’ to feed the world, and by using those ‘industrial’ tools sensibly, we can accomplish that task… while protecting the land, water, and air around us” Hurst explains, pointing out that it is a responsibility that every farmer must undertake to be sensible with these newer and potentially harmful tools and to have some form of forethought of the consequences (The Omnivore’s Delusion,
Berry describes the flaws of industrial products, the awful conditions in which domestic animals are kept, and the money-oriented attitude of patrons of the food industry. These facts, however, are not confirmed by any specific facts. The only concrete reference he mentioned was “bechemicled factory-fields that I have seen, for example, in the Central Valley of California”(Berry 14). There are no trustworthy documents, or photos, or convincing evidence to support his words, so we just have to trust him. Although Wendell Berry is a well-known writer, paying close attention to farming and agriculture themes in his works, he was more of an amateur in agronomy than a professional.
Agriculture fixates more on the production of food instead of stewardship, caring and protecting the land. Berry indicates, “Once one’s farm and one’s thoughts have been sufficiently mechanized, industrial agriculture’s focus on production, as opposed to maintenance or stewardship…” (Berry, 2005, para. 11). When farmers direct their attention on producing crops for the corporation, the farmers forget the reason why they farm in the first place. The farmers mislead thoughts on production create agricultural distress because they lack stewardship. Stewardship involves an intimate relationship with nature, but farmers focus more on the efficiency of production, neglecting the farm. Berry emphasizes that production steers the way of farming instead of the actual farm and community. Berry claims, “…emphasis on production permits the way of working to be determined not by the nature and character of the farm in its ecosystem and in its human community” (Berry, 2005, para. 11). Corporations control the farming industry, mistreating the farms and the farming communities. Production disregards the environment of the farm and demands more than the farm can produce, resulting in damage to the
The idea of the family farm has been destroyed by large food corporations. As discussed in class, industrial farming typically leads to the mass produ...
On the topic of environmental impacts due to “industrial farming”, Bill McKibben and Blake Hurst share completely different perspectives. McKibben believes that industrial farming has simply left an unexcusable bad impact on the environment, saying that it is unethical and that the meat we eat is potentially killing our environment and us as well. McKibben states that “we should simply stop eating factory-farmed meat, and the effects on climate change would be one of the many benefits.” (page 201). McKibben addresses that the techno fixes brought in industrial farming are simply not enough to help our environment.
Humanity’s technological progressions have separated us from other species, but what are the motives of this progress? And are they truly for the better good? In this passage from What Are People For?, Wendell Berry argues that technology is motivated by greed for money and ease when it should be focused on improving communities and loving God, our families, and our country. But does a desire for money mean that people don’t love these things? No. On the contrary, it is often motivated by the fundamental trait of humanity to care for their family and community.
The Special Olympics date back all the way to the year 1968. Many see these Games as a time to honor someone who is able to “overcome” a task, but author William Peace sees this as an insulting portrayal of people with disabilities. Peace is a multidisciplinary school teacher and scholar that uses a wheel chair and writes about the science behind disabilities and handicaps. As a physically handicapped individual, Peace is able to observe a negative portrayal of disabled persons. In his article titled, “Slippery Slopes: Media, Disability, and Adaptive Sports,” William Peace offers his own personal insight, utilizes several statistics regarding handicaps, as well as numerous rhetorical appeals in order to communicate to the “common man”
Wendell Berry’s “Manifesto: the Mad Farmer’s Liberation Front,” is a well-known poem of his from 1972. While Wendell’s poem presents some fine points, he forgets to elaborate on his points, and he doesn’t make a clear thesis of what he is trying to say. There are several lines that could relate to a central thesis of living happy, free with nature, and with no worries of the future, but he is frequently changing thoughts lessen the effect of his words on readers.
In the year 1873, a speech was given which would change America and women’s rights forever. For one of the first times in history, a woman is the one standing up for political and social issues during the mid-1800’s. Susan B. Anthony was 52 years old when she was fined $100 for casting an illegal ballot during an 1872 presidential election which in turn Anthony refused to pay the fine and fought for the rights of women. Her persistence and eagerness could be heard and felt in the speeches she gave across the country. After her arrest, Anthony gave a speech which was titled "Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the U.S. to Vote?” which approached the inequality that surround the men and women of the United States before 1875. It was time for change and her perseverance came at the right moment. The mutual feeling other women clutched to helped propel her speech and her ideas into action which lead to their being a success in equality and the 19th amendment being added to the Constitution.
During the 1950s, racism against African-Americans was a prevalent issue in the United States. Although all blacks were supposed to be free, under a corrupt law system, blacks were victimized mercilessly. Therefore, many civil rights activists emerged in order to fight for equal rights for the black community. The most notable activist was Dr Martin Luther King Jr. King engaged in various civil rights boycotts and protests. Out of all of his civil rights efforts, the most prominent was the “I Have a Dream” speech, given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the “March on Washington” in 1963. The speech illustrated the issue of racism and provoke the audience to sympathise with the blacks while providing hope to the depressed African-American community.
One point Berry makes about people’s ignorance is that they do not recognize their connection to the agricultural cycle. He appeals to the reader’s sense of logic when he describes the process food goes through to reach the consumer, and how eating ends it (3). He uses their sense of reason to persuade them as he continues to point out how oblivious eaters are by saying that “food is pretty much an abstract idea” to them even though they should realize it does not magically appear in the local store (4). Berry mentions that not only do they ignore how it gets to the store, but also the location and type of farms their food comes from (4). He says ...
The cutting down on the uses of pesticides and fertilizers is one on the next great step we have to make as a society. It will take a long time to implement these changes and there will be Problems along this journey. The sooner we start this long journey. The longer we have to work out the Kinks in sustainable farming. We at least should think about the future generations that will live on earth. This is the one place we all have to call home and it’s our job to take care of it for the next generations. We can’t give them a problem that take a long time to fix because it could be too late to fix the problems in a generations or two. This is why we need to push the world to a sustainable farm
In Zhang Zhimin video diary it stated that, in the last hundred years, agriculture has become the biggest source of pollution. For example, in the early twentieth century farmers used terracing, irrigation and multi cropping techniques, plus a large amount people to tend the crops (Morris, 2009, p. 76). Also, animals were used as food and to maintain the nutrient cycle, which was beneficial to the farmers crops (Morris, 2009, pp. 80-82). Tools such as the iron mouldboard plough was also used for dry-land cultivation, which is believed to have been used for centuries (Morris, 2009, p. 84). Techniques such as these were said be a sustainable method of farming, although some people may have been suffering from malnutrition (Morris, 2009, p...
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the “March on Washington” (King). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a credible speaker. He was a Baptist minister and the leader of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the leader of Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Dr. King was also a Nobel Prize winner and a believer of nonviolence (“Martin Luther King Jr.”). For example, Dr. King addresses in his speech that “we must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence” (King).