The Water-Culture Institute promotes appreciation of the full range of values that agricultural systems can offer to people and nature. In practical terms, this means going beyond monetary valuation of agricultural net returns to analyze the many non-monetary benefits of agricultural production systems. Is this an overly romantic notion? Don't farmers already face enough of a challenge just trying to make ends meet?
Farming in a market economy does need to be profitable economically, but there are many ways of meeting that necessary standard without sacrificing all the other potential benefits of sustainable farming systems, such as diversity of crops and varieties, healthy working conditions, nutritious produce, and pesticide free streams and groundwater. But just what are those other ways? How can we identify new approaches to agriculture that yield more total value to both producers and consumers? What values do we want to promote? What are the tradeoffs? Who should decide?
The cultural values underlying agricultural systems need to be pulled out, examined, discussed, debated, and perhaps revised as part of the process of ensuring that our agricultural choices are serving our community's (including Nature's) interests. One methodology for addressing these issues is through a process of community-based agricultural visioning, whereby the people concerned identify what is important to them (their values) and how their agricultural practices can support those values.
Agricultural Visioning in Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico. The Water-Culture Institute, in partnership with Tesuque Farms and Four Bridges Institute, is seeking financial support for a pilot project with Tesuque Pueblo in northern New Mexico. The project would train Tesuque youth to interview elders and farmers about their current and traditional farming practices, and bring this information into a series of visioning workshops. The anticipated output would be a document summarizing the workshop discussions and laying out a vision and strategy to guide the tribe's agricultural future. Click here for the draft project proposal.
Agricultural Visioning in Chhattisgarh, India As hybrid rice and commercial markets gain traction in the predominantly tribal state of Chhattisgarh in Eastern India, critical agrodiversity and cultural traditions are being lost. The Water-Culture Institute is exploring opportunities to work with local organizations on community-based agricultural visioning and empower those communities to chart their own futures. For some recent (Spring 2011) observations about agricultural development in this region, click here.