Abstract:
Agriculture, the essential human activity is most widespread human interaction with the environment it connects all through the food we eat those, who produce it and the land we rely on. At it best, agriculture nourishes more than our bodies. It sustains communities, cultures, and the environment. As is true of any powerful widespread human activity, agriculture raises important technical, social and increasingly ethical questions.
Agriculture’s dominant focus is feeding the human population. From an ethical perspective, this is clearly very positive, but it does not absolve agriculture from critical, ethical examination of the totality of agriculture’s effects. To earn the public support it must be trusted to examine its full range of effects and be sure they align with the highest ethical values. Agriculture’s record is enviable because of its science, technology and productive success. But all engaged need to address the broader ethical issues that are the public’s increasing concern.
The purpose of this paper is to begin a conversation about the role ethics should play in food production and the many industries involved in food production. Relevant questions include: What production and food processing practices raise ethical questions. What practices might be changed?
This will not be a moral judgment of institutions or individuals. It does not create an abstract standard of what is desirable and condemned the past. It is an attempt to reshape the future with the light of the past. A related purpose is to affirm agriculture’s ethical dilemmas had not been a regular part of modern philosophy or the agriculture curriculum While many agriculture professionals are deeply aware of environmental and human challenges the question remains: are we preparing students and all involved in agriculture to think critically not just about what they do, but about why they do it.