Abstract
The trajectory of the public discourse on agriculture in the twentieth century presents an interesting pattern:shortly after World War II, the manner in which farming and farmers were discussed underwent a profound shift. This rhetorical change is revealed by comparing the current debate on farmland preservation with a tradition of agricultural discourse that came before, known as “agrarianism.” While agrarian writers conceived of farming as a rewarding life, a public good, and a source of moral virtue, current writers on farmland preservation speak of farming almost entirely in utilitarian terms describing its productive capacity and its economic returns. Proponents of farmland preservation use essentially the same underlying framework as critics of preservation:n “economic utilitarian” paradigm that purports to eschew normative values and evaluate land use decisions based on economic criteria only. I argue that, despite their good intentions, farmland preservationists are doomed to piecemeal victories at best, because their arguments, which rely on a utilitarian justification and disregard the agrarian ethic, are inadequate. Without expanding its focus beyond farmland to encompass farming and farmers, the movement risks losing both integrity and effectiveness.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Abbreviations
- AFT:
-
American Farmland Trust
- USDA:
-
United States Department of Agriculture
References
InstitutionalAuthorNameAmerican Farmland Trust. (1986) Density-Related Public Costs American Farmland Trust Washington, DC
InstitutionalAuthorNameAmerican Farmland Trust. (1997) Saving American Farmland: What Works American Farmland Trust Washington, DC
InstitutionalAuthorNameAmerican Farmland Trust. (2002) Farming on the Edge: Sprawling Development Threatens America’s Best Farmland American Farmland Trust Washington, DC
InstitutionalAuthorNameAmerican Farmland Trust. (2002) ‘Why save farmland?’ Farmland Information Center Fact Sheet American Farmland Trust Washington, DC
. Baden J. (Eds) (1984) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
J. Baden (1984) ‘Regulating agricultural land use’ Baden. John (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 145–160
L.H. Bailey (1911) The Country-Life Movement Macmillan New York, NY
L.H. Bailey (1927) The Harvest of the Year to the Tiller of the Soil Macmillan New York
Bailey L.H., Wallace H., Butterfield K.L., Page W., Pinchot G., Barrett C.S., Beard W.A. (1909). Report of the Country Life Commission. Senate Document 705. US Government Document, Washington, DC
L. Baker (2000) ArticleTitle‘Malling America: The fast-moving fight to stop urban sprawl’ E The Environmental Magazine. 11 IssueID3 26–33
B.R. Beattie (2001) ‘The disappearance of agricultural land: Fact or fiction?’ T. Anderson B. Yandle (Eds) Agriculture and the Environment: Searching for Greener Pastures. Hoover Institution Press Stanford, California 1–23
J. Bergstrom J. Dorfman K. Ihlanfeldt (1999) An Unlevel Playing Field: How Public Policies Favor Suburban Sprawl over Downtown Development in Metropolitan Atlanta American Farmland Trust Northampton, Massachusetts
W. Berry (1987) ‘A defense of the family farm’ G. Comstock (Eds) Is There a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm?. Iowa State University Press Ames, Iowa 347–360
W. Berry (1997) The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture Third edition. Sierra Club Books San Francisco, California
W. Berry (2002) ArticleTitle‘The agrarian standard’ Orion 21 IssueID3 50–55
Berry W. (2002b). ‘For love of the land’. Sierra May/June: 50–55
S. Brubaker (1982) ‘Agricultural land: Policy issues and alternatives’ P.R. Crosson (Eds) The Cropland Crisis: Myth or Reality?. The John Hopkins University Press Baltimore, Maryland 197–219
A. Carlson (2000) The New Agrarian Mind Transaction Publishers New Brunswick, New Jersey
T.J. Cauley (1935) Agrarianism University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill, North Carolina
M. Clawson (1979) ‘Land as a factor of agricultural production’ M. Schnepf (Eds) Farmland, Food and the Future. Soil Conservation Society of America Ankeny, Iowa 113–121
G. Comstock (1987) ‘Introduction’ G. Comstock (Eds) Is There a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm? Iowa State University Press Ames, Iowa
P.R. Crosson (Eds) (1982) The Cropland Crisis: Myth or Reality? The John Hopkins University Press Baltimore, Maryland
P.R. Crosson (1982) ‘The long-term adequacy of agricultural land in the United States’ P.R. Crosson (Eds) The Cropland Crisis: Myth or Reality?. The John Hopkins University Press Baltimore, Maryland 1–22
P.R. Crosson (1984) ‘The issues’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 1–15
T. Daniels D. Bowers (1997) Holding Our Ground: Protecting America’s Farms and Farmlands Island Press Washington, DC
Dideriksen R.I., Hidlebaugh A.R., Schmude K.O. (1977). Potential Cropland Study. Statistical Bulletin No. 578. USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington, DC
Economic Research Service (nd). ‘The 2002 farm bill: Provisions and economic implications’. USDA. Accessed in December 2004 at www.ers.usda.gov/Features/farmbill/titles/titleIIconservation.htm#farmland
F.F. Elliott (1937) ArticleTitle‘Economic implications of the agricultural conservation program’ Journal of Farm Economics. 19 IssueID1 13–27
R.W. Emerson (1942) ‘Farming’ B. Atkinson (Eds) The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Random House New York
W. Fischel (1984) ‘Urban developments and agricultural land markets’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 79–98
ET Freyfogle (Eds) (2001) The New Agrarianism: Land, Culture, and the Community of Life Island Press Washington, DC
B.D. Gardner (1984) ‘The market allocation of land to agriculture’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 17–29
Gordon, P. and H. W. Richardson (1998). ‘Farmland preservation and ecological footprints: A critique’. Accessed in November 2003 at www-pam.usc.edu/volume1/v1i1a2s1 .html
J. Gould . Kolb W.L. (Eds) (1964) A Dictionary of the Social Sciences Macmillan New York
A.W. Griswold (1948) Farming and Democracy Harcourt Brace New York
Guy, A. (2002). ‘In Kent County, stirring a plan to protect farmland’. Great Lakes Bulletin News Service. Accessed in November 2003 at www.mlui.org/projects/farmlandconser vation/kentpdr.asp
Hambidge, G. (1940). “Farmers in a changing world – a summary.” In Farmers in a Changing World, 1940 Yearbook of Agriculture (pp. 1–100). Washington, DC: USDA.
E.O. Heady (1982) ‘The adequacy of agricultural land: A demand-supply perspective’ P.R. Crosson (Eds) The Cropland Crisis: Myth or Reality?. The John Hopkins University Press Baltimore, Maryland 23–56
Heimlick, R. E. and W. D. Anderson (2001). ‘Development at the urban fringe and beyond: Impacts on agriculture and rural land’. Agricultural Economic Report No. 803. Washington, DC: USDA, Economic Research Service
J. Hightower (1987) ‘The case for the family farm’ G. Comstock (Eds) Is There a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm?. Iowa State University Press Ames, Iowa 205–211
T.C. Hilde P.B. Thompson (2000) ‘Introduction: Agrarianism and pragmatism’ P.B. Thompson T.C. Hilde (Eds) The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism. Vanderbilt University Press Nashville, Tennessee 1–21
T.M. Inge (Eds) (1969) Agrarianism in American Literature Odyssey Press New York
H.M. Jacobs (1995) ‘Ethics in environmental planning practice: The case of agricultural land protection’ S. Hendler (Eds) Planning Ethics: A Reader in Planning Theory, Practice and Education. Center for Urban Policy Research New Brunswick, New Jersey 154–173
D. Kline (1990) Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer’s Journal North Point Press New York
F.M. Lappé J. Collins (1977) Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity Houghton-Mifflin Boston, Massachusetts
A.D. Latornell (1978) ArticleTitle‘Resources for food and living: Will there be enough?’ Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 33 IssueID5 215–217
T. Lehman (1995) Public Values, Private Lands: Farmland Preservation Policy, 1933–1985 University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill, North Carolina
A. Leopold (1939) ArticleTitle‘The farmer as conservationist’ American Forests 45 IssueID5 295–299
L. Ligutti (1950) ‘The church and agriculture’ Address to the National Catholic Rural Life Conference Belleville Illinois
G. Logsdon (1993) The Contrary Farmer Post Mills Chelsea Green, Vermont
G. Logsdon (2000) Living at Nature’s Pace: Farming and the New American Dream White River Junction Chelsea Green, Vermont
C.B. Luttrell (1984) ‘Reexamining the ‘shrinking’ farmland crisis’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 31–44
J. McClaughry (1976) ArticleTitle‘Farmers, freedom, and feudalism: How to avoid the coming serfdom’ South Dakota Law Review. 21 IssueID3 486–541
B. McEwan (1991) Thomas Jefferson: Farmer McFarland Jefferson, North Carolina
R. Meiners B. Yandle (2001) ‘Land trusts: A return to feudalism’ L. Anderson B. Yandle (Eds) Agriculture and the Environment: Searching for Greener Pastures. Hoover Institution Press Stanford, California 25–45
R. Merrill (1976) ‘Toward a self – sustaining agriculture’ R. Merrill (Eds) Radical Agriculture. Harper & Row New York 284–327
H.I. Miller (2001) ‘Biotechnology, land use, and the environment: Untying the gordian knot’ L. Anderson B. Yandle (Eds) Agriculture and the Environment: Searching for Greener Pastures. Hoover Institution Press Stanford, California 105–131
F. Montaigne (2000) ArticleTitle‘There goes the neighborhood!’ Audubon. 102 IssueID2 60–70
J.A. Montmarquet (1989) The Idea of Agrarianism: From Hunter-Gatherer to Agrarian Radical in Western Culture University of Idaho Press Moscow, Idaho
Report. NationalAgricultural Lands (1981) Final Report Government Printing Office Washington, DC
R.H. Nelson (1984) ‘Agricultural zoning: A private alternative’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 113–143
A.H. Olson (1999) ‘Introduction’ R.H. In:Olson T.A. Lyson (Eds) Under the Blade: The Conversion of Agricultural Landscapes. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado 1–13
R.K. Olson A.H. Olson (1999) ‘Farmland loss in America’ R.H. Olson T.A.. Lyson (Eds) Under the Blade: The Conversion of Agricultural Landscapes. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado 15–51
E.C. Pasour SuffixJr. (1984) ‘Lessons from the economic calculation debate’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 99–112
N.R. Peirce G.M. Hatch (1980) ArticleTitle‘Preservationists seek government help as farmland gives way to developers’ National Journal. 12 IssueID33 1357–1361
T.R. Peterson (1990) ArticleTitle‘Jefferson’s yeoman farmer as frontier hero a self defeating mythic structure’ Agriculture and Human Values 7 IssueID1 9–19 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01530599
Peterson G.W., Imhoff M.L., Nizeyimana E., Waltman S.W., Lawrence W.T. (1997). ‘An assessment of soil productivity loss in the U.S. due to urbanization’. Poster 325, Agronomy Abstracts, American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting. Anaheim, California, October 26–31
Ransom J.C. (1930). ‘Reconstructed but unregenerate’. In I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition, the Twelve Southerners [?]. New York: Harper
Roosevelt T. (1909). ‘Special message from the President of the United States’. Preface to Report of the Country Life Commission. Washington, DC: United States Government Document
R.N. Sampson (1979) ‘The ethical dimension of farmland protection’ M. Schnepf (Eds) Farmland, Food, and the Future. Soil Conservation Society of America Ankeny, Iowa 89–98
A. Sen (1981) Poverty and Famines Oxford University Press Oxford UK
J. Simon (1982) ‘The farmer and the mall: Are American farmlands disappearing?’ American Spectator 15 IssueID8 18–20
J. Simon (1984) ‘Some false notions about farmland preservation’ J. Baden (Eds) The Vanishing Farmland Crisis: Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land. University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 59–77
K.K. Smith (2003) Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition: A Common Grace University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
F.R. Steiner JE Theilacker (Eds) (1984) Protecting Farmlands AVI Publishing Westport, Connecticut
R.K. Sutton R.H. Olson (1999) Ethics and aesthetics in the loss of farmland T.A. Lyson (Eds) Under the Blade: The Conversion of Agricultural Landscapes Westview Press Boulder, Colorado 217–246
C.C. Taylor (1925) ArticleTitle‘Farming as a mode of life and living’ Rural America. 3 IssueID3 7–8
J. Taylor (1813) Arator; Being a Series of Agricultural Essays, Practical and Political: In Sixty-Four Numbers Reprinted 1977 Liberty Classics Indianapolis, Indiana
P.B. Thompson (1990) ArticleTitle‘Agrarianism and the American philosophical tradition’ Agriculture and Human Values. 7 IssueID1 3–8 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01530598
P.B. Thompson (1990) ArticleTitle‘Agricultural ethics and economics’ Journal of Agricultural Economics Research. 42 IssueID1 3–7
P.B. Thompson (1995) The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics Routledge London, UK
P.B. Thompson (2000) ‘Thomas Jefferson and agrarian philosophy’ P.B. Thompson T.C. Hilde (Eds) The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism. Vanderbilt University Press Nashville, Tennessee 118–139
P.B. Thompson G.L. Ellis B.A. Stout (1991) ‘Values in the agricultural laboratory’ P.B. Thompson B.A. Stout (Eds) Beyond the Large Farm: Ethics and Research Goals for Agriculture. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado 3–31
J. Tibbetts (1998) Open Space Conservation: Investing in Your Community’s Economic Health Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Cambridge, Massachusetts
L. Tweeten (1987) ‘Food for people and profit’ G. Comstock (Eds) Is There a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm?. Iowa State University Press Ames, Iowa 246–262
Southerners. Twelve (1930) I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition Harper & Brothers New York
R.E. Wagner (2001) ‘Taxation, free markets, and the use of agricultural land’ T.L. Anderson B. Yandle (Eds) Agriculture and the Environment: Searching for Greener Pastures. Hoover Institution Press Stanford, California 47–64
M.L. Wilson (1939) Democracy Has Roots Carrick & Evans New York
D. Worster (1984) ‘Good farming and the public good’ W. Jackson W. Berry B. Colman (Eds) Meeting the Expectations of the Land. North Point Press San Francisco, California 31–41
R.L. Zimdahl (2002) ArticleTitle‘Moral confidence in agriculture’ American Journal of Alternative Agriculture. 17 IssueID1 44–53
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Matthew J. Mariola recently received his Masters degree in the Land Resources program at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on agrarian philosophy and farmer identity among conventional and organic farmers.
The errors of politicians ignorant of agriculture can only rob it of its pleasures, and consign it to contempt and misery.
– John Taylor, 1813
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mariola, M.J. Losing ground: Farmland preservation, economic utilitarianism, and the erosion of the agrarian ideal. Agric Hum Values 22, 209–223 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-004-8281-1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-004-8281-1