On your other point relating to sustainability of farming
communities, consider a paper which pivotally influenced my thinking
on the issue of sustainability - ecological and otherwise - Crews et
al. (1991. Vol 6(3):146-149). They argue - and we have subsequently
argued (Clark and Weise, 1993; Lehman et al., 1994) - that ecological
sustainability is fundamentally distinct and separate from economic
or societal sustainability (e.g. profitability, viable rural
communities, social equity etc.) - and that conflating them all under
a single name so thoroughly confuses the issue as to preclude
progress toward sustainability.
Crews et al. argued that "To achieve ecological sustainability,
society cannot be organized in ways that force farmers to adopt
practices that violate ecological constraints" (your point), but also
that "sustainability is a measure of a system's potential to endure
and is not the proper yardstick with which to measure the
desirability of a particular set of social relations" (the notion of
distinct and separate axes of enquiry - ecological, economic, and
societal "sustainability".
I think there is wisdom in this line of thinking, and would encourage
dialogue and deeper consideration, in part to inform our own work as
researchers, extensionists, and practicioners, but also to inform
decision-making by those responsible for making the policies which
have disenfranchised ecological agriculture in recent decades. Ann
ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933