Brown Stuff

[Carl Remick]

>  Our goal in making society work for the betterment of all 
> people would be to
> convert our economy from something that resembles a nation of 
> a few farmers
> working a multitude of farm workers into a new kind of 
> economy that resembled a
> community of gardeners, in which workers would have good 
> reason to attack their
> jobs with a sense of care, price, joy and even exhilaration.

This passage attracted a predictable amount of ridicule, but I thought
Michael's point was really excellent -- as was Nathan's response:
"There is no doubt a happy medium of application of farm technology for
maximum productivity of farm labor with a minimum of enviro-destroying
results ...  there is little
doubt we are far from the happy medium right now."

We should beware of false dichotomies -- the idea that we are destined
to be dependent on exploited stoop labor OR  on environmentally
dangerous GM technology.  There has to be a way of reducing the scale
and adverse environmental impact of high-productivity modern farming
without simply reverting to subsistence farming. 

Carl