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Evangelical Perspectives on Food and Agriculture
A Christian Perspective on Sustainable Agriculture
Dr. Ronald J. Vos
Introduction
North Americans live in a society that is generally disconnected from its food supply. They are also disconnected with the people and policies that affect how it is grown. Our society thrives on "cheap" food and therefore little value is assigned to it. In comparison, European countries, because they have experienced starvation as recently as World War II, place a much higher value on food. However, our North American cheap food policy may turn out to be very expensive if the depletion of soil and other natural resources as well as other social costs are included.
As redeemed Christians, what is our role in the area of agriculture? Is it the notion that Christianity is merely a personal experience that applies only to one's private life and therefore has no application to agriculture? I reject that as being incomplete. Instead, what is needed is a complete transformation of the prevalent agricultural situation. This requires special discernment from humans (Christians and non Christians alike) who are created as God's image bearers.
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Sustainable Agriculture
While the industrial model of agriculture is very prominent today, the Sustainable Agriculture model is gaining acceptance as Vos and Vander Zee point out in their chapter on Sustainable Agriculture in the book Signposts of God's iberating Kingdom (1998). Sustainable Agriculture is an agriculture that is economically viable, resource efficient, environmentally sound, promotes justice to both the human and non-human creation, and builds community while providing food and fiber for humans for long periods of time. While many agricultural producers would probably agree with this definition, for a variety of reasons it is not practiced to the fullest extent possible.
Worldview and Sustainable Agriculture
A person's relationship with the ecosystem does affect his or her perception of Sustainable Agriculture. If we live according to our worldview, either God, the rest of creation, humans, or something else is exalted. We are not passive observers of the ecosystem. Humans are directly involved in the ecosystem and like the rest of creation are created by God. For example, we derive our food and the air we breathe from the ecosystem and we add wastes to it. How we react with the rest of creation is largely a spiritual matter. In fact, what we call the ecosystem reflects how we view it. It is often referred to as nature but the more correct term is creation. We must ask ourselves if our own individual philosophy when extended to its logical conclusion leads to sustainability.
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