Fall, 1990 (v3n1)
	From the Director The Public's Voice in Agriculture In two recent issues of this newsletter (Winter, Spring 1990), we reported on work groups formed by SAREP's Economic and Public Policy Advisory Group. In this issue, Larry Yee, Ventura County Cooperative Extension director, writes about his county's food safety study group (page 4). Debra Van Dusen of the UC Santa Cruz Agroecology Program describes a recent conference (page 8) on balancing social, environmental and economic issues in sustainable agriculture, while Dave Chaney of SAREP writes about the Rural Development Center that helps small farm families reach economic self-sufficiency (page 10). These activities show the public that we in the agricultural community are concerned about their issues. Public Role For those of us formed in the sciences, the specter of a meddling, uninformed public can be chilling. We honor the traditions of great scientists of the past - Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin-whose pursuit of truth brought them popular scorn and censure. The scientific method, controlled and isolated from political fray, is the context of our enterprise. So what role does the public play? Hyman Rickover, an engineer and father of the modern navy, argued that confusion between pure science and applied science leads to a mistaken disregard for human considerations in the application of science. We have no methods to test the safety and usefulness of any given technology comparable to the methods used by science to test its hypotheses. Around every field in which science is used for human benefit, public debate is not only inevitable, but essential. In pursuit of certain truth, science cannot regard popular ideas, Rickover argued. "But technology is action and thus potentially dangerous. Unless it adapts itself to human interests, needs, values, and principles, that is unless it is humanistic, technology will do more harm than good. For, by enlarging man's power of mind and body, it enhances his ability to do harm, even as it enhances his ability to do good," he wrote. Agriculture is probably humanity's oldest technology. The application of our knowledge of biology, chemistry, and physics has unlocked nature's storehouse. But the instrumental use of nature to benefit humans is coming into question today in public debates, in the halls of legislatures, and in the voting booth. Despite the complexities of modern life, we can still trace the threads connecting our activities to other important patterns in the natural fabric. Our ability to produce food and fiber for expanding populations will depend to a large extent on our ability to maintain the planet's resource base. We need to develop agricultural production systems that work in harmony with natural processes rather than disrupting them. This will require new and different approaches, information, and understanding. It also means that we in agriculture need to look at our impact on the total system and make sure we consider both human and nature's interest, values and principles. It is not enough that we understand the technical processes of our pursuits. We also must instruct the public in these issues so that they can understand the options and make informed choices. Because agriculture, like other applied sciences, must be a humane enterprise. -Bill Liebhardt, director, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program. [ Back | Search | Feedback ]