@reggaj Just this morn, noting Norman Wirzba's, 'Eating Our Way into the Care of Our Common Home', in 'Theology and Ecology Across the Disciplines.' Since when does the typical farmcast come close to interweaving such topics into a portrait of farm life alive, eh? You've got the chops.
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But for agriculture to change, a whole lot else must change with it. This is because agricultural practices witness to, and are the practical embodiment of, the values of the communities that support and finance them. Agriculture that degrades soils, plants, animals, farmworkers, and farm communities reflects a culture in which convenience of life and cheapness of product are the primary concerns. It reflects a society in which people do not want to know, do not feel they need to know, the moral responsibilities and the practical skills necessary to maintain healthy lands and the flourishing of communities of creatures at the same time.` The care of the land and the nurture of human neighborhoods require detailedattention, time-honed insight and skill, sustained commitment and affection, ...
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...and the humility to match human expectations and desires to the limits and possibilities of the places that feed, warm, and inspire us. This is to say that a change in agriculture presupposes a transformation of culture, a transformation of the personal sympathies and values that people hold, the economic priorities and social responsibilities they pursue, and the personal and communal goods they aspire to. Because eating is the most regular and intimate way that people connect to the land, the question of agriculture is always also a question about how people position themselves in the world, what they believe the world and its creatures to mean, and what they think is morally appropriate behavior within it. As I will show in this chapter, religion plays an important role in this work because religious belief and practice have traditionally been primary modalities in which people attempt to find clarity about fundamental and absolute values.