Wendell Berry Sewing Husbandry Analysis

It also includes matters such as environmental concerns, and the overdependence on technology. Wendell Berry connects in his writings the problems of our culture with the difficulties in agriculture. He believes that the change of society is due the neglect of the right attitude towards farming. While agricultures are dependent on physical labor, the growing industrial culture does not appreciate this type of work and beliefs that mental work is superior, what results in discrimination against people that have an occupation in the

Former president George Washington once said, “Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of man,” (George Washington Quote). Since Washington’s presidency, countless advancements and developments within the agricultural industry have allowed the United States to grow, develop, and become one of the most prosperous countries in the entire world. Nevertheless, this prosperity is also marked by several key historical events, such as the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, which have caused the core values and traditions that this great nation was built on to slowly disappear. Today, the majority of Americans have no knowledge, understanding, or appreciation for the agricultural industry, causing them to take for granted the basic necessities they rely on each day. This disconnection has created a gap between producers and consumers, which is known as

"I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds." These famous words from "The FFA Creed" by E.M. Tiffany outline the basic beliefs of FFA members and agriculturists around the world. But these values, although crucial to the sustaining of our world's ever-increasing population, are growing more and more detached from the people not involved in agriculture. Although food and fiber production has increased in recent years, providing more bushels per acre and more meat per head of cattle, the agriculture industry has come under fire due to an overwhelming majority of people being totally disconnected from the agriculture industry. Today, we'll examine the primary causes of this disconnect, the negative effects on agriculture and our society as a whole that results from it, and how you can help solve this ever-growing problem.

Inventions like the plow and combine had many positive effects, however the use of commercial farming has played a big role in overpopulation, and

Diamond explains that our worst mistake was the transition from hunter-gathers to farmers. Diamond believes that humans were better off chasing our food rather than planting it due to the consequences that followed after such a dramatic change of life. His reasoning expands further out than one might think of about this subject. He talks about the social changes that were created when agriculture began. Diamond spews empowering points that leave a reader pondering if he is correct. People are only sure of how the world is now but the possibilities are endless on what our world could have been if agriculture had not begun.

Based on the output of production, agriculture is perceived as an advance because farmers can produce more food within a smaller area than they could possibly obtain as hunter-gatherers. Harris says that this situation happened since farmers control “the rate of plant reproduction” (Harris 219), which means that immediate adverse consequences could be prevented with the intensification of production. On the other hand, hunter-gatherers, which depend on the availability of natural plants and animals; consequently, can raise their output very little. However, although farmers can produce more food than hunter-gatherers do, the numbers of crops are limited; therefore, when the crops failed, there is risk of starvation.

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

The Agrarian Standard, an essay written by Kentucky author Wendell Berry, was published in Citizenship Papers on January 1st, 2002. The book this essay was published in served as a response to 9/11 and a reflection of our country. Berry resides in Port Royal, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife Tanya. His family runs a non-profit organization focused towards practicing agrarianism: a social or political movement designed to bring about land reforms or to improve the economic status of the farmer (Merriam-Webster online dictionary.) Berry has been discussing his belief in agrarianism throughout his 45-year literary career, through poems (Sabbaths- 1979, IV), speeches (“It All Turns On Affection”), and essays such as this one.

The mechanization of agriculture created a lot of problems for the western farmers. New machinery made crop production much easier and faster. This caused many farm workers to loose their jobs, because such machines as the

“Breaking the Land” discusses three major components throughout the book; cotton, tobacco, and the rice culture. Pete Daniel, the author, discusses the transformation of these three subjects throughout history. The different agriculture crops are described by explaining the environment that they are in and the difficulties they come across. The book explains how the crops and the environment have changed because of the difficulties they have faced. Diseases, race, inflation and deflation of crop prices, laws, and the economy are some of the main problems that helped transform the environment of the crop industry. The book explains in great detail the challenges that each crop undertook to become a more modern industry, along with the increase of technology. Technology plays a large role in creating a more modern life for the agriculture industries. Daniel goes on to explain the new technology that is used during the timeline of events for the development of agricultural crops.

Added to the financial risk of farming, already gambling on soil and weather and crops.

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

In Massachusetts, there are 7,755 farms working on 523,00 acres of land (“Agricultural Resources Facts and Statistics”). This is equivalent to 817 square miles, which roughly equals the size of Jacksonville, Florida (“The Largest U.S. City”, 2014). To an uninformed civilian, this chunk of land may seem vast; however, it is quite small in comparison to the 1,565,401 square miles of farmland used in the United States today (“Agricultural Land”, 2016). Why does it matter how much farmland is in the United States? Wasn’t mass farming a good innovation for the country? Wasn’t the Agricultural Revolution a bright spot for human history? In Jack Diamond’s article, “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race”, he states that the Agricultural Revolution is the worst mistake made by humans. This assumption is correct because it affected humans negatively in several ways: home lives, health, and socially.

To conclude Delingpole’s article, he states if we were to have total dependence on locally grown crops, we take the life-threating risk of our only food source being wiped out by a natural disaster, or a produce eating pest. He [Delingpole] goes on to quote Budiansky, “Without modern farming, we literally would have to cut down every acre of rainforest

With the constant overuse of the soil negative effects started to appear regarding the soil and the soil’s fertility. As farmers introduce the chemical fertilizers to their crops they seldom know that they are decreasing the soil’s fertility level and in return increasing the acidic levels, this is due to the fact that chemical fertilizers cause the soil to turn acidic (Missouri Botanical Garden). Plants grow best in neutral soils so when the soil turns acidic due to the implementation of chemical fertilizers farmers add more chemical fertilizers to help the next yield of crops grow thinking that the soil needs more nutrients and N-P-K when in reality all it needs is a little time off to try to recuperate itself naturally. Sadly, sometimes in the end the soil is no longer able to grow anything. The great amounts of fertilizers that are being used result in the soil turning into a desert; literally, this process is desertification. Desertification is just that, the process in which a healthy fertile soil turns into a dry infertile desert and once the soil reaches this state it is very difficult to restore it back to the healthy soil it used to be but it is not impossible. A great role model that helped proved this statement was the great Aldo Leopold. Leopold was a scientist that after experiencing a sudden change of thoughts; after looking inside a wolf’s eye, wrote about the importance of being one