Food, society, and the environment

Overview * In what ways do current agricultural practices damage the environment? * What are the major causes of environmental damage? * Are ruralisation and sustainable agricultural viable solutions? The dominant mode of agricultural production in developed countries results in significant environmental damage and in the long run is unsustainable. The major problems are caused by monoculture, fertilisers, pesticides, overgrazing, tree clearing, irrigation, and the use of fossil fuels. This chapter considers, in particular, the problem of nutrient loss, whereby nutrients in the soil are embodied in plants and animals and exported when they leave the farm. Environmental damage is ultimately the result of the capitalist imperative of profit-making, because unsustainable agricultural practices make short-term economic sense. However, the predicted demise of cheap oil in the next few decades may create economic incentives to pursue more sustainable alternatives. While it may be necessary to replace capitalism in the long term, solutions based in community action and state regulation can make sense now. Experiments in sustainable agriculture today can be regarded as hybrids-social alternatives that link features of capitalism to features of the gift economy.2nd ed