Abstract
Discussions of the desirability and ethical justifiability of sustainable agriculture are frequently impeded, if not derailed by the variety of meanings attached to the term “sustainable.” This paper suggests a taxonomy of different notions of sustainability distinguishing between agricultural product and process sustainability, in both static and dynamic forms, pursued by reductive (extractive), compensatory, regenerative, and induced homeostasis strategies. The discussion then goes on to argue that ethics demand sustainable agriculture. Finally the paper tries to identify just which types of sustainable agriculture will meet the ethical demands. I conclude with reasons for living sustainably in the present, as opposed to trying to orient agriculture by reference to the rights of future generations.
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Charles V. Blatz is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at The University of Toledo (Ohio). He is a founding member of the International Development Ethics Association, and is editor ofEthics and Agriculture: An Anthology on Current Issues in World Context (University of Idaho Press, 1991).
An earlier version of this discussion was presented in May of 1990 at Colorado State University. I wish to thank David Crocker and Holmes Ralston for their comments and questions on that occasion.
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Blatz, C.V. The very idea of sustainability. Agric Hum Values 9, 12–28 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217961
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217961