Abstract
An introduction to the ethical issues surrounding the value of farms.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Surveys of these costs may be found in Erin M. Tegtmeier and Michael D. Duffy, External Costs of Agricultural Production in the United States, 2(1) International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 1 (2004); Jules Pretty et al., Policy Challenges and Priorities for Internalizing the Externalities of Modern Agriculture, 44 Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 263 (2001); European Environmental Agency, The Externalities of Agriculture: What Do We Know (May 1998); David Pearce et al., The True Price of Pesticide, in William Vorley and Dennis Keeney (eds.), Bugs in the System: Redesigning the Pesticide Industry for Sustainable Agriculture (1998); Pierre Crosson, Soil Erosion Estimates and Costs, 269 Science 461 (1995); David Pimentel et al., Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits, 267 Science 1117 (1995); David Pimentel et al., Environmental and Economic Costs of Pesticide Use, 42 BioScience 750 (1992); R.A. Steiner et al., Incorporating Externality Costs in Productivity Measures: A Case Study Using U.S. Agriculture, in Vick Barnett et al. (eds.), Agricultural Sustainability: Environmental and Statistical Considerations 209 (1995). Older sources are summarized in James Stephen Carpenter, Farm Chemicals, Soil Erosion, and Sustainable Agriculture, 13 Stanford Environmental Law Journal (1993).
- 2.
Suzie Greenhalgh and Amanda Sauer, Awakening the Dead Zone: An Investment of Agriculture, Water Quality, and Climate Change (2003); National Research Council, The Use of Drugs in Food Animals: Benefits and Risks (1999).
- 3.
National Research Council, Air Emissions: From Animal Feeding Operations: Current Knowledge, Future Needs (2001).
- 4.
The approach is discussed in Judith D. Soul and Jon K. Piper, Farming in Nature’s Image: An Ecological Approach to Agriculture (1991) and Wes Jackson, New Roots for Agriculture (1985).
- 5.
A good starting point is National Research Council, Alternative Agriculture (1993). A series of publications summarize well the conventional and more sustainable methods for raising livestock. See Beth Nelson (ed.), Poultry Your Way: A Guide to Alternatives for the Upper Midwest (2005); Debra Elias Morse and Beth Nelson (eds.), Hogs Your Way: Choosing a Hog Production System in the Upper Midwest (2005). A more economic view is presented by John E. Ikerd, Sustainable Agriculture: An Alternative Model for Future Pork Producers, in Jeffrey S. Royer and Richard T. Rogers (eds.), The Industrialization of Agriculture: Vertical Coordination in the U.S. Food System (1998).
- 6.
A summary of the research on rotational grazing can be found at Mathew J. Mariola et al., The Societal Implications of Management Intensive Grazing: An Annotated Bibliography (January 2005).
- 7.
Dayton Lambert et al., Conservation-Compatible Practices and Programs: Who Participates, USDA, ERS Economic Research Report No. 14 (February 2006).
- 8.
A sense of the imposing nature of making such a determination can be gained by browsing the seemingly endless inventory of practices in use in American agriculture in Merritt Padgitt et al., Production Practices for Major Crops in U.S Agriculture, 1990–97, USDA ERS Statistical Bulletin No. 969 (August 2000); Margriet Caswell et al., Adoption of Agricultural Production Practices: Lessons Learned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Area Studies Project, USDA ERS Agricultural Economic Report No. 792 (January 2001); and in the Ralph Heimlich’s printer-defeating, Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2003, USDA ERS Agricultural Handbook No. 722 (February 2003).
- 9.
This general problem is described in Marc Ribaudo, Managing Manure: New Clean Water Act Regulations Create Imperative for Livestock Producers, Amber Waves (February 2003). Manure application to land is discussed in detail in Marc Ribaudo et al., Manure Management for Water Quality: Costs to Animal Feeding Operations of Applying Manure Nutrients to Land, USDA ERS Agricultural Economic Report No. 824 (June 2003).
- 10.
Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), Integrated Animal Waste Management, Task Force Report No. 128 (November 1996).
- 11.
Critics of such an approach often suggest that large operations will be better able to raise the capital to meet stricter environmental rules, and that smaller operations could have a difficult time adjusting. This seems especially likely for smaller operations that have sought to adopt a form of industrialized livestock production. For hog operations see William D. McBride and Nigel Key, Economic and Structural Relationships in U.S. Hog Production, USDA ERS Agricultural Economic Report No. 818 (February 2003).
References
Attfield, R. (2001). Christianity. In D. Jamieson (Ed.), A companion to environmental philsophy. Oxford: Blackwell.
Auxter, T. (1985). Poetry and self-knowledge in rural life. Agriculture and human values, II, 2, 15–27.
Bell, D. (1993). Communitarianism and its critics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Berry, W. (1969). The long-legged house. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
Berry, W. (1977). The unsettling of America: Culture and agriculture. New York: Avon Books.
Berry, W. (1987). Home economics. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press.
Berry, W. (1991). Standing on earth. Ipswich, MA: Golgonooza Press.
Blum, L. (1994). Moral perception and particularity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, K. (1979). Food for the future. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Carpenter, J. (1993). Farm chemicals, soil erosion, and sustainable agriculture. Stanford Envi-ronmental Law Journal, 13, 190–243.
Cavell, S. (2002). Must we mean what we say?: A book of essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Comstock, G. (Ed.). (1987). Is there a moral obligation to save the family farm? Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Comstock, G. (1996). Toward an evangelical environmental ethic. In S. M. Postiglione, & R. Brungs (Eds.), Christianity and the environmental ethos. St. Louis, MO: ITEST Faith/Science Press.
Comstock, G. (1997). Theism and environmental ethics. In P. Quinn, & C. Taliaferro (Eds.), A companion to philosophy of religion. Oxford: Blackwell.
Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). (1996). Integrated animal waste management. Task Force Report No. 128. Ames, IA: CAST
Crosson, P. (1995). Soil erosion estimates and costs. Science, 269, 461–464.
Gery, M. (1993). Founding farms; portraits of five Massachusetts family farms. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Greenhalgh, S., & Sauer, A. (2003). Awakening the dead zone: An investment for agriculture, water quality, and climate change. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
Hall, J. (1848). The west: Its commerce and navigation. Rochester, MN: H.W. Derby.
Hart, J. (1991). Farming on the edge; saving family farms in Marin County. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Headler, S. (1991). The political economy of American capitalism. New York: Praeger.
Hightower, J. (1973). Hard tomatoes, hard times. Cambridge: Schenkman.
Hightower, J. (1975). The case for the family farmer. In C. Lerza, & M. Jacobson (Eds.), Food for people, not for profit. New York: Ballantine.
Hodne, C. (1987). We whose future has been stolen. In G. Comstock (Ed.), Is there a moral obligation to save the family farm? Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Jackson, W. (1985). New roots for agriculture. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Jackson, W. (1988). Ecosystem Agriculture. In P. Allen, & P. van Dusen (Eds.), Global perspec-tives on agroecology and sustainable agricultural systems: Proceedings of the Sixth Interna-tional Conference of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements: Vol. 1. Santa Cruz: Agroecology Program, University of California.
Jefferson, T. (1984). Writings. New York: Literary Classics of the United States.
Krebs, A. V. (1992). The corporate reapers: The book of agriculture. Washington, DC: Essential Books.
Lambert, D., et al. (2006). Conservation-compatible practices and programs: Who participate. Economic Research Report No. 14. Washington, DC: Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
Langerak, E., et al. (1989). Christian faith, health, and medical practice. Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Leopold, A. (1949). A sand county almanac, and other sketches here and there. London: Oxford University Press.
MacIntyre, A. (1981). After virtue. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Mariola, M., et al. (2005). The societal implications of management intensive grazing: an annotated bibliography. Madison, WI: Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.
National Research Council (1993). Alternative agriculture. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Research Council (1999). The use of drugs in food animals: Benefits and risks. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Research Council (2001). Air emissions: From animal feeding operations: Current knowledge, future needs. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Paddock, J., Paddock, P., & Bly, C. (1988). Soil and survival; land stewardship and the future of American agriculture. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.
Pearce, D., et al. (1988). The true price of pesticide. In W. Vorley, & D. Keeney (Eds.), Bugs in the system: Redesigning the pesticide industry for sustainable agriculture. London: Earthscan.
Pimentel, D., et al. (1992). Environmental and economic costs of pesticide use, Bioscience, 42, 740–760.
Pimentel, D., et al. (1995). Environmental and economic costs of soil erosion and conservation benefits. Science, 267, 1117–1123.
Pretty, J., et al. (2001). Policy challenges and priorities for internalizing the externalities of modern agriculture, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 44, 263–263.
Ribaudo, M., et al. (2003). Manure management for water quality: Costs to animal feeding operations of applying manure nutrients to land, Agricultural Economic Report No. 824. Washington, DC: Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
Rolston, H. (1986). Philosophy gone wild. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
Rosenblatt, P. (1990). Farming is in our blood; farm families in economic crisis. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Scheffler, S. (1982). The rejection of consequentialism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Schumacher, E. F. (1973). Small is beautiful. New York: Harper & Row.
Shrader-Frechette, K. (1991). Property and procedural justice: The plight of the small farmer. In C. V. Moscow (Ed.), Ethics and agriculture. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press.
Smith, A. (1933). The wealth of nations. New York: E.P. Dutton.
Sontag, M. S., & Bubolz, M. (1996). Families on small farms; case studies in human ecology. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.
Soul, J., & Piper, J. (1991). Farming in nature’s image: An ecological approach to agriculture.Washington, DC: Island Press.
Steiner, R., et al. (1995). Incorporating externality costs in productivity measures: A case study using U.S. agriculture. In V. Barnett, et al. (Eds.), Agricultural sustainability: Environmental and statistical considerations. New York: Wiley.
Strange, M. (1988). Family farming: A new economic vision. San Francisco, CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy.
Taliaferro, C. (1992a). Divine agriculture. Agriculture and human values, pp. 71–80.
Taliaferro, C. (1992b). The intensity of theism. Sophia, 31(3), 61–73.
Tegtmeier, E., & Duffy, M. (2004). External costs of agricultural production in the United States, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 2(1), 155–155.
Thompson, P. (1998). Agricultural ethics. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Thompson, P., & Stout, B. (Eds.). (1991). Beyond the large farm. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Tweeten, L. (1989). Farm policy analysis. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taliaferro, C., Carpenter, S. (2010). Farms. In: Comstock, G.L. (eds) Life Science Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8792-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8792-8_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8791-1
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-8792-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)