Abstract

This dissertation is an investigation of not only how agriculture is seen to work according to economic, ecological and stewardship perspectives, but also of the rationales offered to justify the various views as to how agriculture works. Central to this investigation are discussions about the perceived connections between agriculture and food. Under an economic perspective, the connection between agriculture and food is about profitability and social utility--an economically competitive global food system leads to social utility in the form of inexpensive, abundant food and fibre. Under an ecological perspective, the connection is about sustainable agricultural practices--an agricultural standard of agro-ecosystem health or a principle of nature as measure lead to social utility in the form of a long-term, secure food supply. Under a stewardship perspective, the connection is about obligations to farm in sustainable ways--present and future generations or even the land are owned, on the part of farmers, certain agricultural practices. ;Further to the investigation are critiques of the three main perspectives: the economic perspective is destructive of land and people; the principles in the ecological perspective are not always appropriate to agriculture; and the obligations in the stewardship perspective supply little guidance to agriculture. Therefore, a fourth option is offered in which I present the right conception of farming and posit that the connection between agriculture and food is about the immediate and intimate. This fourth option I label 'sense of place,' and here the connection is about nurturing human fulfillment in an environmental context where the matrix of meanings and values that are associated with community and place extend the possibility of sustainable agriculture