Abstract
One of the ongoing debates in the sustainable agriculture community is whether its platform should include social justice issues like farmworker rights, economic concentration, and hunger. The commentary describes the evolution of this controversy, and places it in the context of competing and complicated moral theories that turn out to be of somewhat limited use in political arguments. The essay also outlines ways in which the present political climate is presenting a challenge to sustainable agriculture proponents, who, in response, are building new linkages with urban interests, including anti-hunger organization. Despite abstract philosophical and more real political problems, a community food security agenda is being crafted, joining the interests of small farms, family farm, and sustainability advocates, and anti-hunger groups. Their focus is community and economic development as a way to improve the quality and availability of inner city food supplies, and to develop new markets and political allies for farmers.
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Kate Clancy is Professor of Human Nutrition in the Department of Nutrition and Foodservice Management at Syracuse University. Her major area of interest is the food system, with particular emphasis on the linkages among agricultural, health, and welfare policies in the U. S. She is Vice President of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society, and a member of the Food Advisory Committee to the Food and Drug Administration.
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Clancy, K. Commentary social justice and sustainable agriculture: Moving beyond theory. Agric Hum Values 11, 77–83 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01530419
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01530419