How You Become an Ethical Agriculturist
Agronomy is the
mother of agriculture and it is also synonymous to agriculture as well.
Therefore, agronomy in general term in this article not only limits to the core
discipline of agronomy and agronomists but also it entails the whole sphere of
agriculture and agriculturists as well. Pressures have been brought to bear
upon farming and those who serve it in any capacity to widen the list of tasks
to which agriculture should be devoted. At one time, the role of agriculture
was to produce food, but now many people expect agriculture to be carried out in
an environmentally friendly way that maintains the rural economy. We now speak
of multifunctional agriculture. One tool sometimes used to press those demands
is an appeal to ethics. This appeal can appear to suggest that agriculturalists
have been ethically negligent. Every agricultural ethicist knows by experience
how poorly received that suggestion is. Agriculture is a vocation or profession
that prides itself on the unquestionable value, even nobility, of its work.
Whereas agronomists should be engaged for number of works in day to day life
involving social justification in farming, soil fertility and sustainability,
soil conservation, rural living condition, farming and environment, healthy and
nontoxic food production to the masses in an affordable manner, and so on and
so forth. Above all, there is a big morale of agriculturist to save Mother Nature for our
future generation tailored with multinational companies, engaged in
agriculture, which have big say in generating and disseminating agro-technologies
which are mooted to profit making and patenting agro biodiversity. This paper
sheds lights in all such issues and aware agriculturists if it is being done
ethically on the part of agriculturists/agronomists. Also the paper cites what
are the ethical concerns of agriculturists to make their profession ethically
sound that include honesty, integrity, fairness, and service to the clienteles
in question.
To
become and ethical agriculturalists, but especially agronomist who are working
as researchers and extensions by which they feel comfortable using ethics in
handling the multiple and often conflicting demands that sectors of the public
press on agriculture. Agricultural professionals may have not been taught about
professional ethics in institutions where they developed their careers.
Therefore, from ethical point of view agronomists do what they feel right
personally.
Animals are
used in agronomic research, especially in grazing and feeding trials,
metabolism and toxicity trials, and behavioral studies involving agronomic
materials. There is a need to increase productivity of animal operations and
improve quality, safety, affordability, and convenience of animal product; we
will no doubt continue to conduct research involving animals. The objective of
most animal research conducted by or with agronomists is to improve crop as
feed for animals, improve performance of animals consuming crops, or improve
consumer products derived from animals that consume crops. Measures should be
taken to minimize pain and discomfort and maximize animal well being in each
experiment without compromising the validity of the experiment design. It
definitely involves refraining from unnecessary harass treatment of animals.
Animals should be treated most humanely while on the experiment.
Many agronomic
researchers are also agent of technology transfer and face various ethical
issues. As technology becomes more complex, users may rely more heavily on
information from various technology transfer agents and be more vulnerable to
the agents’ mistake. Agronomists should provide information and assistances as
honestly, thoroughly, and objectively as possible. They should not portray
their knowledge as being greater than it is. Agronomists should follow
following guidelines with respect to technology transfer:
Role of
agronomist in war and peace is equally important. In war their role is to grow
crops for feeding people not to starve of them and take care about the equity
and supply of foods while in peace there comes a role of increasing
productivity and boost production per unit area so that glut of production for
sustaining lives and commercializing agro-products take place smoothly. There
are times when agronomists should involve judging what is right and wrong with
respect to evaluating agriculture inputs and products brought into markets by
some multinational company and big house whose aim is centered for profit
making. Such organizations, presently, are deeply mooted into patenting
agro-products and at the same time they are concentrated to capture natural
flora and fauna in the name of patenting rights. In such situations,
agriculture professional should strongly favor for the rural masses who are
conserving these agro-biodiversity from the time settled agriculture was
started at the dawn of civilization. This has created a dilemma as to which is
ethical and unethical so as to give professional judgments for
agriculturalists. There are cases when agronomists and extension people have
been advocating such commercial products without thinking of professional
ethics. Such issues include commercialization of genetically modified organisms
(GMOs), Bt variety of crops, agro-chemicals (seeds, pesticides,
hormones, fertilizers), new crop varieties (hybrid, OPV, and local but modified
genotypes) so on and so forth. We have experienced, in some way or other way,
some time agriculture professionals have been engaged for promoting such products
with a meager hope of getting some personal incentives such as kickbacks,
reward or some form of other personal motivations. It is against the ethics of
professionals to involve in such activities unless benefits of products from
these big commercial houses have been established by scientific standards. The
consequences of such products to the ignorant masses such as allergic reaction
of the products, their negative effects on biodiversity conservation, failure
of crops bearings grain/fruit, effect on soil microorganisms and, underground
water pollution, and sustainability of natural resources, resistance to insect
pest and diseases, introduction of new pest and diseases, and above all
destruction of Mother Nature is of unforgivable consequences. Agriculture
professional should finally bear the impact of such devastating concerns
brought about without taking into consideration of scientific paradigms for
such issues. Of course, in such circumstances the consequences rest for
unethical decisions of agriculture professional as well.
