The statements recorded on this page were presented
by the speakers and were generally accepted by the audiences,
but at none of these were any actual votes taken. Thus these
are very much still proposals.
Editorial Privilege
As would be expected, locally urgent issues affected many of
the workshop participants. Since there was no way of making
the special pre-policy focus of the Soul of Agriculture project
clear many recommendations were made which constituted fairly
detailed policies. For example, in Turlock (California State
University, Stanislaus) an experienced shipper of farm-gate
products dealt with the complaint that small farmers cannot
get truckers to pick up small shipments to deliver to super-market
chains or other outlets. He stated that this is largely a matter
of inexperience by the management of the companies. Most experienced
truckers would have no difficulty planning a route which would
allow the profitable pick-up and delivery of a full load made
up of partial loads or simply as an alternative to driving empty.
He recommended a policy: "Management of large trucking
firms should allow more discretion to drivers experienced in
local routes, farmers and outlets." This is an eminently
sensible policy recommendation, and may be a specific application
of a general principle such as: "To support family farming,
centralized decision making in all segments of the market should
allow a flexibility which can meet the needs of those farms
to plant, cultivate and deliver their products to the market."
Generally the postings on this page will aim at
the more general and more clearly ethical principles rather
than detailed policies, using purely practical policies as examples
and leaving them to local groups to record and emphasize as
they wish.
Glossary
As each workshop's results are delivered for posting an acronym
to identify the workshop of origin will be assigned to each
of its proposed values and ethical commitments. These will be
listed under the headings used in Creating a New Vision of
Farming to retain a consistent classification system.
1.) Community Food Security Coalition Chicago,
October, 1999; CFSC (CFSC/ELCA will mean a value
promoted by rural Lutheran ELCA traditions)
2.) California Farm Conference, Berkeley, November, 1999, CalF
3.) Heartland Conference (Ecological Farming Association) Turlock,
California, June 2001. EFA
Workshop Proposed Values of Family Farming
Introduction:
The values and later the ethical principles proposed in
workshops and other deliberative formats will be listed in the
categories which appear in Creating New Vision of Farming.
The proposals will be in normal typeface. The category-headings
will be in italics.
BASIC GOAL VALUES:
A. Sufficient food and fiber supplies
B. Sustainable supplies
C. Healthy
DERIVED GOAL VALUES
(from "sufficient")
Accessible
Affordable
Adequate
(from "sustainable")
Knowledge of local market needs (less wasted production).
Caring for food needs of local consumers
(from "healthy")
Awareness of local taste and nutrition preferences
Ability to respond to special nutritional objectives
Neighborly trust-based food safety
TOOL VALUES
I.) General Tool Values
A. Efficient in use of resources
1. Small farms are
more efficient than industrial farms (CalF)
A. Sustainable (tools and practices
which secure permanent attainment of the basic goal
values of agriculture).
II.) Specific Tool Values
A. Impacting Human Producers
o Values without which
farmers and laborers will not work at all
1.
Good rural wages. CFSC/ELCA
o Values without
which producers will not be able to farm with excellence
1.
Deep-seated vocational commitment to good farming. CFSC/ELCA
2.
Constituency for human-value oriented food and agricultural
sciences in our land-grant
universities. CSFC
3.
Commitment to explicit moral norms. CFSC/ELCA
A. Impacting Animals and Living Systems
o Impacting Animals
1.
Economic motive for having thriving animals. CalF
2.
Animal husbandry scale small enough to protect human compassion
for individual animals.
CalF
3.
Family tradition of care for animals as a bulwark against technological
intensification
cruelties. CalF (e.g. Basque sheep farmers)
o Impacting other
living systems
1.
Preserving open space by providing an economically viable outcome
for its preservation.
CalF
2.
Inventiveness in environmental protection. CalF
III.) Values in Farmer to Farmer Relationships
o Community with and caring for neighboring
farmers(a "sacred value")
o Professional/technical cohesiveness
and helpfulness (a "useful" value)
o Shared innovativeness:
1. Creativity in design
of locally useful farm machinery (CalF)
(e.g.
Stockton Plow, Walnut Shaker, various harvesters)
IV.) Values in Community and Consumer Relations
o Pleasure in being appreciated by the
consumer for a healthy and delicious product
o Living in peace with one's community
o Mutual sharing of community needs
and the burdens of farming activity (in other words:
a tendency to mitigate or negotiate mutual impacts on neighbors
in a friendly way,)
V.) (new category, suggested at CalF) Community development
and enrichment
1. Creating ethic diversity in the community
(ethnically diverse farming and farm product types.)
CalF
2. Farm employment as first step on
economic ladder for newly arriving ethnic groups. CalF
3. Creating minority farming opportunities
in sustainable farming and in organic and specialty
crops. CalF
4. Preservation of grass-roots democracy
by keeping an active, independent population.("Jeffersonian
Ideal") CalF
5. Preservation of a base for economic
survival of businesses, churches, schools and civic
organizations. CalF
6. Better wealth and income distribution
for the society (local and national).CalF
7. Enabling educational continuity/success
for some farm-workers' children. CalF
8. Farm children as source of well prepared
young adults;, responsible, industrious and innovative.
CFSC
9. Tradition of regionally loyal political
and social action. CFSC
VI.) (new category from CalF) Values in Farm-Family--Farm
labor Relationship
1. Multi generational continuity of
ownership of farm. CalF, CFSC/ELCA
2. Potential of Retirement Funds. CalF
3. Residential Stability. CalF, CFSC/ELCA
4. Personally felt connection of injustice
to farmer in low prices and to labor in low wages.
EFA (Empathy for "co-workers.")
(back to top)
Proposed Statements of Mutual Ethical
Commitments for Family Farming
I.) PRINCIPLES WHICH SECURE THE ENDS OF AGRICULTURE:
II.) PRINCIPLES WHICH GUIDE THE MEANS OF AGRICULTURE:
1. We should bring about an explicit
recognition of human values in the economics of agriculture.
CFSC
A. Farmers
and Workers:
1.
Means must be found to have food prices reflect the actual costs
of production. EFA
B. Impacts
on Animals and Other Living Systems:
1.
Means should be found to create an effective interest in farm
animal welfare. CalF
2.
Family Farmers should seek animal welfare certification. CalF
3.
Public education on the animal cruelty in "factory farms"
should be promoted. CalF
4.
Effective alternatives to "factory farming" for meat,
dairy and poultry supplies must
be developed. CalF
C. Farmer
to Farmer Relations:
D. Farmer /Community
Relations:
1.
We should formulate explicit codes of family-farming ethics.
CFSC/ELCA
2.
Community and Consumer should support the environmental and
social benefits of
family managed farming (e.g. by patronizing their products and
political advocacy.)
CFSC, EFA
3.
Communities should provide market access to local farmers (farmers'
markets and
space in regular markets) CalF
4.
Communities should be given realistic pictures of farming operations
(odors, noises,
occasional dust etc.) CalF
5.
Farmers should make reasonable efforts to mitigate community
impacts of their necessary
operations,. CalF
6.
Local Schools should educate about the role of family managed
farming.(e.g. development
of a K-12 curriculum package) CalF\
7.
Farm tours should be realistic. CalF
E. Farmer
/Consumer Relations
1.
We should develop market demand for both local and distant family-farm
products
(e.g. farm-type origin labels). CFSC
2.
Farmers should reserve a portion of their production for local
needs. CalF
3.
Local schools and government offices should use local farm products.
CalF
4.
Farmers should assure that their food products are ecologically
and nutritionally excellent.
(back to top)
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