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Quote by Wendell Berry

“That we should have an agriculture based as much on petroleum as the soil-that we need petroleum exactly as much as we need food and must have it before we can eat-may seem absurd. It is absurd. It is nevertheless true.”

Quote by Wendell Berry

Book:The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

Work

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

A profound and thought-provoking analysis of the relationship between agriculture and culture in the United States, exploring the consequences of industrial farming practices on the environment, economy, and community life. more

Author

Wendell Berry, an American novelist born on August 5, 1934, is renowned for his profound descriptions of rural life and his critical views on modern industrial civilization. more

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“The American Colossus was fiercely intent on appropriating and exploiting the riches of all continents - grasping with both hands, reaping where he had not sown, wasting what he thought would last forever. New railroads were opening new territory. The exploiters were pushing farther and farther into the wilderness. The man who could get his hands on the biggest slice of natural resources was the best citizen. Wealth and virtue were supposed to trot in double harness.”

Source: Breaking New Ground

“The consumer wants food to be as cheap as possible. The producer wants it to be as expensive as possible. Both want it to involve as little labor as possible. And so the standards of cheapness and convenience, which are irresistibly simplifying and therefore inevitably exploitive, have been substituted for the standard of health (of both people and land), which would enforce consideration of essential complexities.”

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Author:Wendell Berry

“The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it... Do not misunderstand me, but understand me fully with reference to my affection for the land. I never said the land was mine to do with it as I chose. The one who has the right to dispose of it is the one who created it. I claim a right to live on my land and accord you the privilege to live on yours.”

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Author:Chief Joseph

“The current economic crisis...has numerous causes and sends a powerful message about the need for a profound revision of the model of global economic development. It's an acute symptom that is added to other more grave and already well-known ones, such as the continued imbalance between wealth and poverty, the scandal of hunger, the ecological emergency and the problem of unemployment, which has now become general. In this context a strategic re-launching of agriculture appears decisive.”

“The damages of our present agriculture all come from the determination to use the life of the soil as if it were an extractable resource like coal.”

Ifs Use Land Resources Determination Damage Soil Agriculture Coal

Book:The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

Source: The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

“The ecology of the valley was complex beyond our understanding, and it began to die as we went on manipulating it in ever more frantic ways. As it went dead and empty of the old life it became a place where no one wanted to live. In our right minds we want to seek out places that reek of complexity. Our drive to industrialize soured and undercut the intimacies that drew most people to country life in the first place.”

People Way Want Mind Firsts Country Wanted Dies Understanding Land Empty Complexes Intimacy Complexity Valleys Ecology Frantic Country Life Old Life Undercut

Author:William Kittredge

“The farmer and the farm, like "the environment," are looked upon, for example, as means to offset trade deficits. The farm is a place where we can externalize costs. The cost of pesticides to the farmer and the cost of the pesticides to the soil and groundwater are regarded similarly by the public: "a serious problem that something ought to be done about." But the problem is more fundamental than this glib statement would indicate, for soil pollution is an expense of production. So are pesticides and nitrates in our farm wells. So is the loss of farmers from the land.”

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Author:Wes Jackson

“The ground is holy, being even as it came from the Creator. Keep it, guard it, care for it, for it keeps men, guards men, cares for men. Destroy it and man is destroyed.”

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Book:Cry, the Beloved Country

Source: Cry, the Beloved Country

“The image of the frontier is probably one of the oldest images of mankind, and it is not surprising that we should find it hard to get rid of.”

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Book:Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy

Source: Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy

“The prairies were dust. Day after day, summer after summer, the scorching winds blew the dust and the sun was brassy in a yellow sky. Crop after crop failed. Again and again the barren land must be mortgaged for taxes and food and next year's seed. The agony of hope ended when there was not harvest and no more credit, no money to pay interest and taxes; the banker took the land. Then the bank failed.”

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Author:Rose Wilder Lane