Cultivating an ecological conscience essays from a farmer philosopher

Title Page......Page 6
Contents......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 16
Editor\'s Introduction......Page 18
Preface......Page 25
Part 1: Working at Home: Lessons from\nKirschenmann Family Farms......Page 30
Theological Reflections while Castrating Calves......Page 32
On Behalf of American Farmers......Page 39
Pilgrimage to a Barnyard......Page 44
Low-Input Farming in Practice......Page 47
A Transcendent Vision......Page 57
Expanding the Vision of Sustainable Agriculture......Page 65
The Role of Independent Beef Producers in Rural Development......Page 80
Foreword to Farming with the Wild: Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches......Page 83
On Being an “Objective” Farmer......Page 88
Being at Home......Page 95
The Pleasure of Good Eating......Page 109
Is Sustainability in Our Energy Future?......Page 113
A Journey toward Sustainability......Page 116
Part 2: Cracks in the Bridges: Inspecting the Industrial Food System......Page 136
On Learning to Farm Ecologically on the Prairie......Page 138
Can Organic Agriculture Feed the World? And Is That the Right Question?......Page 158
Biotechnology on the Ground......Page 170
Questioning Biotechnology’s Claims and Imagining Alternatives......Page 178
Why American Agriculture Is Not Sustainable......Page 195
What Constitutes Sound Science?......Page 205
And Then What? Attending to the Context of Our Innovations......Page 221
Food as Relationship......Page 231
Is the USDA Accounting for the Costs to Farmers from Contamination Caused by Genetically Engineered Plants?......Page 243
Placing the Pew Commission Report in Context......Page 252
Redefining Sustainability......Page 255
Part 3: Envisioning an Alternative Food and Farming System......Page 258
What’s an Education For?......Page 260
Resolving Conflicts in American Land-Use Values......Page 265
What About the Next Twenty Years?......Page 272
Rediscovering American Agriculture......Page 279
Spirituality and Cooperatives......Page 288
In Search of Objectivity, or How to Create a Credible Certification Program......Page 296
On Becoming Lovers of the Soil......Page 301
Challenges Facing Philosophy as We Enter the Twenty-first Century......Page 307
A Pig’s Tale......Page 323
A Bright Future for “Farmers of the Middle”......Page 334
Revitalizing Rural Communities......Page 339
Rethinking Food......Page 353
Using What We Know to Make a Difference......Page 359
Afterword......Page 375
Notes......Page 378
Selected Bibliography......Page 404
Index......Page 412
Back Cover......Page 422