If Food Justice was a hard look into the facets affecting our food systems in the US, then “Social and Ethical Aspects of International Cropping Systems”  was a hard look into the problems that affect international agriculture.

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What is ethics?

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According Velasquez et al. at Santa Clara University it’s well-grounded standards of right and wrong that guide what humans ought to do, framed in terms of rights, obligations, fairness, virtues, and benefits to society. It is an ongoing process of examining and refining one’s moral beliefs and conduct that are broader than personal feelings, religious beliefs, legal rules, or social norms, each of which can diverge from what is truly ethical and should not be equated with feeling, religion, law, or popular opinion, because each of those can be wrong or inconsistent. A mouthful that’s for sure.

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Why do we need ethics in agriculture?

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As I’m sure you know by now, wicked problems. Pollution, deforestation, and, in the case of industrial farming, economic and social pressures on traditional communities, continue to erode away at out plant and communities. The key question was how to meet our needs for food and clothing while making responsible and ethical choices. Or as Dr Okumoto phrased it “Do you owe a duty to vulnerable people, even if you do not benefit directly, or are even inconvenienced by such a change[to benefit them]? Do all humans have a right to survival? If so, can we even compare someone's right to survival vs someone else’s cost?”

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And so more roots to this very large tree were uncovered.

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For about two decades, Roundup Ready technology delivered strong results. However overreliance on the product lead to the development on resistant weeds. At the same time, rising seed prices and the need for additional weed management increased production costs while offering little benefit. Meanwhile in India the sale of Bt cotton shuttered many small seed company businesses, and lead to a monopoly. On the other side of the world US Monsanto launched a series of lawsuits against farmers whose field had been crosspollinated by GMO crops.

 

With every ag innovation comes a new set of problems.