Trust on the Farm

       Bell's concepts through chapter 10 suggest that developing and mobilizing our economy (or any economy) is all about trust. Trust in the knowledge that we ourselves obtain and trust in the knowledge of others. We must trust the information we are distributed if we hope to navigate through our system with an understanding of our surroundings.

     The trust that we place in each other to maintain and protect our environment is one of the most important trust we as people can have for one another. The way one treats the environment has direct effects not only on those who may live in their community but everyone who is dependent on the same resources we are. Things like using water, gases and other natural resources have an environmental effect on the entire world. This effect and trust can rightly be applied largely to the agriculture setting and how farmers utilize and preserve land.

     The struggle between conventional and sustainable practices in farming all stem from trust when it comes to farmers making such a drastic decision. Farmers rely on their crops and herds to make a living. The more product they can put out at a decent quality the more profit they will make. I grew up in a small farm town where nearly everyone was, in some way, connected to a local farm. In most cases generations of families all lived within about a mile of one another where they could all fulfill their duties on the family farmers. Generations for men grew up taking over the farmland and animal stock as their fathers and grandfathers grew too old to continue in the production. The knowledge of farming isn't something you learn in the classroom. It's learned through hands on experience working on the farm and following what your parents and grandparents instruct you to do. Farmers have instilled trust in their elders and grow constantly utilizing the knowledge they have obtained from their elders. The trust they have in the knowledge they have gathered allows them to trust their work and themselves to produce a good product. This trust the farmers have in their families past generations of work and one another leads an entire community to place trust upon them from food and to preserve our environment the best they can.

     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dKUhUN5Yx4

     Trusting in your past generations and your production to gain a living is a wonderful thing. But what happens when something out of a farmers control goes bad? What happens when there is no production due to lack of resources or their land is too nutrient deprived to sustain crops?  
This is when farmers have to consider making that shift from their conventional values grown through generations to sustainable farming that will allow them to gain profit and keep their farm and production alive. This structures the economy, environment, personal beliefs and be placed on the same playing field when deciding between conventional and sustainable farming.