SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

500 WORD CRITICAL THINKING ESSSAY

Vivienne Elanta 12021131

Ecofeminism S221 May 2003

Tlaloc Tokuda

In his article Tlaloc Tokuda examines current agricultural practices and the problems they pose. He says that these practices are detrimental to the environment, and therefore unsustainable in the long term. He suggests an alternative agricultural practice, which he believes is sustainable. Further, he reflects on the impact both practices have on Majority World (Third World) countries, where the growing of cash crops is increasingly replacing traditional subsistence agriculture. He concludes by saying that, “We have to change our ‘mind set’ and start thinking about sustainability and all its ramifications”(p.231).

In support of his argument he states that the modern agriculture practices are causing environmental degradation through the use of ever -increasing quantities of highly toxic pesticides, which enter the food chain. He points out that these chemicals were meant to kill insects, but in fact they produce resistance in insects and weeds, forcing the farmer to use larger quantities, “creating super bugs and weeds”(p.228). He says, that additionally we pay the price of soil loss, water depletion, salination, and genetic material loss. He points out that mechanisation not only depletes fossil fuels, but also creates increasing unemployment and puts farmers in further dept and growing numbers are loosing their farms.

Contrary to modern agricultural practices of monoculture, Majority World farmers traditionally practice crop diversity. He highlights that the “genetic wipe out”(p.228) of many plant species are occurring as a direct result of Majority World farmers using Green Revolution seeds in favour of their heirloom seeds. This, he says, has had a detrimental effect on the people in that it left them with less nutritious foods, as well as loosing their economic autonomy by becoming dependent on western corporations who dictate the prices.

Tokuda believes that, agricultural economists are ignoring externalities such as environmental degradation, resource depletion and unequal distribution. He suggests that we need a change in ethics, “a change in our attitudes and relationships we have to the ecosystem and each other”(p.229). Western countries exploit the earth as mere resource for human benefits only, an attitude he believes is “short sighted and ultimately suicidal”(p.229).

Tonkuda has correctly exposed the problems caused by a “modern agricultural practice” and has strongly argued for a sustainable agricultural practice. I also agree with his recommendation of a need for change in ethics, something seriously lacking in today’s consumer society. The attitude of mass production to satisfy the ever -hungry consumer society in the North has had huge costs for the people of the Majority World in loosing their way of sustainable agricultural practices.

I think that Tokuda has given the reader an excellent description of the problem and prescription of a solution. He has, however, failed to enlighten us in how to acquire an ethic of care, that of recognising our dependence of and interdependence with the earth, without which we ultimately have no existence. I think the major problem is that most affluent consumers live in cities and depend on their food from faraway places, a situation in which the consumer and the producer never meet. I think that the dwindling number of subsistence farmers in the Majority World could teach us about living with and off the land in a sustainable way. My own daily practice involves growing at least some of my food, which gives me a greater appreciation of what it means to practice sustainable agriculture.