| REVIEW:
Agri-Culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature By Dorene Pasekoff |
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December 1, 2003: In ancient Rome, writers were careful to speak of agriculture as two things: agri and cultura (the fields and the culture). “It is only very recently,” Pretty writes in his current book, “that we have filleted out the culture and replaced it with commodity.” Therefore, in eight chapters, Pretty asks “Can we put the culture back into agri-culture without compromising the need to produce enough food? Can we create sustainable systems of farming that are efficient and fair and founded on a detailed understanding of the benefits of agroecology and people’s capacity to cooperate?” Like the interdisciplinary scholar that he is, Pretty winds through history, literature, economic data, current case studies and traditional practices to show that cultural ideas such as the productiveness of land (fens are planted to corn because grain production is productive while wastewater recharging is not), the usefulness of one’s labor (tilling the soil is “admirable” whereas gathering wild foods is “lazy”) and one’s accountability to others (land ownership is trustworthy whereas land held in common is squandered) have created the agriculture we have today. By reexamining and reshaping our culture, then distilling the result with the best practices learned through serious agroecological research, we will have an agriculture that feeds society both physically and spiritually especially if we can find polite ways (Pretty is a remarkably gentle revolutionary) to sideline the current power structure which profits from the status quo. Like all books, this one has its weaknesses. The chapter on genetic modification is exceptionally poor which suggests that Pretty does very well when asked to interpret and explain “big picture” concepts, but falls short when he must choose and explain very specific scientific studies. A better understanding of commercial seed quality standards and maize population genetics would have prevented some serious blunders in this chapter. However, the chapter on ecological literacy should be read by all those who run or are planning to run a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project. If your CSA is floundering, read the chapter twice! To be successful, a CSA grower must not only provide food, but also a cultural experience that can create trust, offer connections to a place and a people and ultimately, build a new commons in which people respect each other and the natural resources around them. Just as there are steps to building soil, there are steps, just as necessary in a CSA project, to build the necessary social capital which creates the membership’s trust and understanding which carries the growers through a difficult season so they may till the land the following year rather than selling it to the highest bidder. “Trust,” says Pretty, “takes time to build, but is easily diminished.” Accept, perhaps, that your CSA’s soil is regenerating faster than its social capital, but neglect either to your peril! With quiet words, endnotes full of citations, tables and graphs and concrete examples from around the world, Pretty shows that by integrating “the fields and the culture,” the dream of a world with enough food and enough meaning for its inhabitants is possible. If you enjoy Pretty’s interdisciplinary approach, you might also enjoy reading the research he oversees as Director of the University of Essex’s Centre for Environment and Society at http://www2.essex.ac.uk/ces/default.htm#top A final note: I’ve been reviewing books for several years
now, but this is the first book that, no matter where I went, people
interrupted my reading to ask who had painted the front cover. The
beautiful, yet haunting landscapes on the cover and beginning each
chapter were created by John Pretty, the author’s father.
His work can be seen at http://www.johnrpretty.co.uk/
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