Teaching Agricultural Ethics

A survey was conducted in the United Statesin 1998 and 1999 to determine what members of theNational Association of State Universities and LandGrant Colleges (NASULGC) and of the AmericanAssociation of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)offered agricultural ethics as an undergraduatecourse. Of the 59 responses, the survey found 15 USuniversities that have a course on agricultural ethicsor one that includes the topic. This paper willdiscuss the survey's findings and offer six reasonsthat explain why so few universities includeagricultural ethics in their curriculum. The sixreasons are: 1) lack of education in ethics andphilosophy on the part of agricultural scientists; 2)lack of institutional or disciplinary incentives foragricultural scientists to reflect on their work andits effects; 3) lack of administrative leadership incolleges of agriculture due to their failure tounderstand the benefits of agricultural ethics; 4)continuance of the prevailing assumption thatagriculture is inherently ethically correct; 5) thefelt necessity by agricultural scientists to defendthemselves against what are perceived to be unjust andinaccurate criticisms of agriculture; and 6) areluctance to engage in ethical reflection because itmay raise more problems than it solves. The paper'scentral question is why ethics is not taught in morecolleges of agriculture. Those who teach know thattheir students are tomorrow's farmers, businesspeople, professors, and policy makers. If we who nowteach and administer fail to include true ethicalstudy in our student's education, our students willstill be defensive when confronted with an ethicalissue and unable to respond except with assertionsbased on the production paradigm, the correctness ofwhich, although unexamined, we taught them. If theagricultural faculty does not recognize theopportunity and the obligation to participate in theshaping of values, then the values of agriculture willbe shaped elsewhere in the institution and insociety.     

中国农户收入最大化与耕地保护行为研究

与西方农业家庭模型研究假设不同,经济结构转型期,我国农户将面临更大的空间和更多的自由配置资源以实现收入最大化.以劳动力配置为基础的投入最大化条件证明在农产品价格和政府补贴效应影响下,农业经营与外出务工劳动力投入的边际收入贡献相等时,农户能够实现收入最大化.在实现收入最大化过程中,农户耕地保护行为是否发生关键在于耕地保护劳动投入是否能得到补偿,充分分享耕地保护收益是农户层次耕地保护行为发生的基础条件.而流转条件下的农户农业经营劳动力投入和耕地数量变化之间的比较静态分析则进一步说明农户耕地保护行为发生的复杂性,国家层面应充分考虑耕地流转过程中农户资源禀赋变化趋势及行为选择,调整和完善耕地流转政策.     

Compassionate versus consequentialist conservation

Ethical treatment of wildlife and consideration of animal welfare have become important themes in conservation, but ethical perspectives on how best to protect wild animals and promote their welfare are diverse. There are advantages to the consequentialist harms ethical framework applied in managing wild herbivores for conservation purposes. To minimize harms while achieving conservation goals, we argue that overabundant wild herbivores should in many cases be managed through consumptive in situ killing. Advantages of this policy are that the negative welfare states imposed on animals last only a short time; remaining animals are not deprived of positive welfare states (e.g., linked to rearing offspring); poor welfare states of animals in overabundant populations are avoided (e.g., starvation); negative welfare impacts on heterospecifics through resource depletion (i.e., competition) are prevented; harvesting meat reduces the number of (agricultural) animals raised to supply meat; and minimal costs maximize funding for other wildlife management and conservation priorities. Alternative ethical approaches to our consequentialist framework include deontology (containing animal rights) and virtue ethics, some of which underpin compassionate conservation. These alternative ethical approaches emphasize the importance of avoiding intentional killing of animals but, if no population reduction occurs, are likely to impose considerable unintentional harms on overabundant wildlife and indirectly harm heterospecifics through ineffective population reduction. If nonlethal control is used, it is likely that overabundant animals would be deprived of positive welfare states and economic costs would be prohibitive. We encourage conservation stakeholders to consider animal-welfare consequentialism as an ethical approach to minimize harms to the animals under their care as well as other animals that policies may affect while at the same time pursuing conservation goals.     

We should not allow dissection of animals

This essay argues against routine dissection exercises on animals under three headings. First, attaining goals of general scientific education does not require dissection. The training of specialists, in whose vocations dissection skills are essential, could then be accomplished without killing animals specifically for the purpose of acquiring those skills. Second, killing and dissecting animals for unnecessary exercises teaches students bad attitudes toward animal life. Third, moral principles cannot justify killing and dissecting animals but not humans; consequently, such treatment of animals is prejudiced exploitation of the weak by the strong.     

The metaphysical transition in farming: From the newtonian-mechanical to the eltonian ecological

Modern agriculture is subject to a metaphysical as well as an ethical critique. As a casual review of the beliefs associated with food production in the past suggests, modern agriculture is embedded in and informed by the prevailing modern world view, Newtonian Mechanics, which is bankrupt as a scientific paradigm and unsustainable as an agricultural motif. A new holistic, organic world view is emerging from ecology and the new physics marked by four general conceptual features: Each level of organization from atoms to ecosystems (1) exhibits emergent properties, (2) exerts downward causation from whole to part, (3) is a systemically integrated whole, (4) the parts of which are internally related. Organic agriculture has been favourably compared with industrial agriculture by the United States National Academy of Science's Board on Agriculture. Aldo Leopold was among the first to criticize industrial agriculture and to envision a new motif for agriculture informed by ecology. A future post-modern ecological agriculture will help to solve the ethical problems engendered by modern mechanical agriculture.     

The advent of liberalism and the subordination of agrarian thought in the United States

This essay contends that the ascendancy of Western liberalism after the Enlightenment worked catalytically on the development of both the Industrial Revolution and a modern agrarianism based on the widespread dispersal of small-scale property ownership. Due to power dynamics, however, as well as the liberal faith in inevitable progress, agrarian thought has remained a marginal concern in Western politics, economics, and education. Although the agrarian philosophical tradition in the United States was created by the same liberal rhetoric and argumentation that gave birth to industrialism, the two world views hinged on vastly different interpretations of the same concepts. One aim of this essay is to sort out these differences and examine their implications for a contemporary reconsideration of agrarian thought.     

Ethical issues concerning potential global climate change on food production

Burning fossil fuel in the North American continent contributes more to the CO₂ global warming problem than in any other continent. The resulting climate changes are expected to alter food production. The overall changes in temperature, moisture, carbon dioxide, insect pests, plant pathogens, and weeds associated with global warming are projected to reduce food production in North America. However, in Africa, the projected slight rise in rainfall is encouraging, especially since Africa already suffers from severe shortages of rainfall. For all regions, a reduction in fossil fuel burning is vital. Adoption of sound ecological resource management, especially soil and water conservation and the prevention of deforestation, is important. Together, these steps will benefit agriculture, the environment, farmers, and society as a whole.     

关中灌区农户生产投资与水费承受力研究

2000-2005年连续6年对陕西关中九大灌区800个定点农户进行入户跟踪问卷调查,结果表明,2000-2005年不计入农业税关中九大灌区平均年农业投资为4605.8元/hm²,计入农业税为5313.0元/hm²;2000-2005年农业毛收入从2000年9754.2元/hm²上升至2005年的17371.4元/hm²,6年增长了78.1%,农业净收入从2000年4944.3元/hm²上升至2005年的11317.4元/hm²,6年增长率超过了一倍。2000-2005年九大灌区水费投资平均值为854.9元/hm²,占农业投资的18.56%;2000-2005年灌区水费投资平均值逐年增长,而水费占农业投资、水费占毛收入、水费占净收入、人均水费占人均总净收入比例、人均耕地面积呈逐年下降的趋势。最后就目前农村生产中存在的问题提出了几点看法。     

中国古代环境伦理意识与现代环境伦理观念探析

生态危机,环境恶化使人们认识到环境伦理意识的重要性.同时人们也清醒地认识到环境和生态问题的解决必须诉诸环境伦理信念.有着悠久历史文明的中国,在古代蕴涵了丰富的生态哲学,其中有许多与现代环境伦理思想相通之处.对世界观的认识,人与自然的关系,合理利用资源等,值得学习和借鉴.     

环境保护中的伦理问题及启示

环境问题产生的根源,是人的思维、决策和行为的失误.环境伦理在解决环境问题的过程中有重大的作用.