The Rural Voice, 2005-03, Page 32tete
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PROCEEDS TO COMMUNITY BETTERMENT
28 THE RURAL VOICE
society, Ikerd says. Land paved over
is land lost to production forever.
And the earth cannot sustain
practices that take more than they
give.
It's agriculture, for instance, that
has been identified as the greatest
non -point source of pollution in the
Mississippi River watershed. This, in
turn, contributes to the growing dead
zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
"There's one thing, regardless of
politics, and regardless of nationality,
that ties us together. We are all (as)
dependent on the land today as when
we were hunters and gatherers."
Organic agriculture is also
important
because it tends
to be sustainable
from an econ-
omic standpoint,
especially when
local markets are
involved, Ikerd
says. Econom-
ically -viable,
independent
farms are import-
ant to the rural
infrastructure.
Ikerd has been
an agricultural
economist for
more than 30 years. He says he used
to dispense the type of advice that
encouraged farmers to specialize
their operations, borrow money,
invest in larger equipment, and get
bigger.
His attitude changed in the 1980s,
however.
"I could tell, the farmers that
listened to what we said, were the
ones in trouble," Ikerd says.
"We looked at a farm as if it was
nothing more than a factory. A farm
is not a machine. It's a biological
organism and you can't treat an
organism like a machine."
Ikerd now sees organic agriculture
as at least part of the answer.
However, the foundation must be
philosophical as well as economic in
nature, benefiting families,
communities and the environment as
well as providing an income.
Ikerd is a professor emeritus at the
University of Missouri. He was
raised on a small dairy farm in the
southwestern comer of Missouri.0
John Ikerd:
A changed
attitude