Think Christian about Agriculture
“Eating is an agricultural act” wrote the great agrarian writer Wendell Berry, which makes my story with agriculture all the more ironic. I was raised in Pennsylvania between a corn field and a horse farm, my first job was harvesting strawberries, and I’ve worked baling hay and driving tractors. And yet, I grew up gladly chowing down on pre-packaged, highly-processed foods without giving much thought to where food comes from.
That changed when I graduated from college with a degree in psychology and no idea what to do with it, and I found a government agency was hiring and would train me on the job. I had just moved to Florida and was interested in science and the environment, so I took the job, and for fifteen years I ran a water conservation program, working with farmers to find ways to protect water supplies and waterways.
By now, I’ve been all over Florida – not just the touristy parts – and I understand agriculture and science better than I ever thought I would. And I also learned some ways my Christian faith speaks to the work of agriculture. This article is a broad overview of some of the issues at this crossroad of faith and farming.
Feeding the World
“And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.”
Matthew 13:3
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
The Bible is chock-full of agricultural references because it was written in a time and society where people were much more intimately connected to the land and water from which sustenance came. They couldn’t ship most foods over long distances, so they had to eat fresh, local foods grown by themselves or someone they knew. So, at the very least, understanding the basics of agriculture helps us understand the world of the Bible.
The western world has changed a lot in the past several generations, with the number of farmers dwindling to a fraction of the population, even as the amount of food has exploded. A generation or two ago, academics worried about mass starvation because the population was expanding, and now they’re more concerned with waste because we have so much. Yes, there is still hunger and starvation in the world, but that is mostly local, and due to wars, government dysfunction, or drastic weather events. Worldwide, humans now produce more food than we need to consume.
And yet, though we live in a time of abundance, we are much less connected to our foods’ sources. The Bible says much about food production not just because it was important for ancient cultures, but because it is important for every culture – food might come from a grocery store, but it comes from a lot of places before that, and God values the work of farmers in feeding the world.
You don’t have to listen to Paul Harvey’s “So God Made a Farmer” speech to appreciate that God has called some to the good work of feeding the world. But it helps.
Stewardship of Earth
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””
Genesis 1:28 ESV
Christians believe that the world belongs to God, and He has entrusted it to us as His stewards or representatives. Agriculture is closely tied to stewardship, and good farmers are great environmentalists.
Farmers have to think about caring for the land. To grow crops or raise animals in a way that wrecks the soil and water for future generations is short-sighted and immoral. We are called to care for the world, to use it wisely and not exploit it. As G. K. Chesterton wrote,
“Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate... Nature is a sister, and even a younger sister: a little, dancing sister, to be laughed at as well as loved.”
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
We have an obligation to love our sister nature well.
Farmers consider things like the best use of the chemicals for growing crops. Fertilizers and pesticides have both benefits and costs, and the equation can be quite complicated. If all farming were converted to organic today, we would probably not be able to produce enough food to feed the world. But if we act irresponsibly in the ways we use chemicals in the environment, we are misusing our Father’s world. So farmers have to weigh many different factors in deciding how to farm.
“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.”
Psalm 24:1-2
The same is true for technologies like genetic engineering. The issues can be incredibly complex, and not every person working in agriculture can be expected to have a master’s degree in biotechnology. But all are called to do the best they can with the knowledge and time that they have, and pray for God’s guidance in all the unknowns.
Care of Animals
“Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast,
but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”
Proverbs 12:10
God cares about the animals He made. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?” Jesus asked. “And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” (Matthew 10:29) Farmers must think about what that means for how animals are bred, raised, and killed for human benefit.
Factory farms have great power to produce protein and feed the masses, but many of them are hellscapes for the creatures who live there. If we don’t care, we practice poor husbandry (thoughtful care) of our fellow creatures. The Bible doesn’t condemn humans for eating animals; in the New Testament, God declared all food clean. But to work in cooperation with God’s will, farmers have to consider the welfare of the creatures in their care.
Care of Workers
“The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”
Psalm 146:9
Many agricultural enterprises rely on the work of migrants, who harvest crops or do other processing work. Without migrant labor, the food supply chain would suffer greatly. Seasonal work can be a benefit on both sides of the agreement, and good farmers take excellent care of their workers. Unfortunately, migrant workers have sometimes been taken advantage of and mistreated. Farmers honor God when they treat every human being as someone made in the image of God and worthy of dignity.
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
Matthew 25:40
Farmers must consider things like fair pay and humane living and working conditions when they employ workers, who are often in socially and economically vulnerable positions.
Technology
Another issue at the intersection of Christian thought and modern farming is wise use of technology. Farmers use technology every day for all kinds of things, but “the farmer’s shadow is the best fertilizer that reaches the plant.”
One technological consideration is the “right to repair” movement, that pushes back against equipment manufacturers who make farmers sign repair contracts that don’t allow them to fix their own equipment.
People in agriculture are also wise to consider how technological innovation decimates farming communities. Wendell Berry has been sadly prophetic in describing how advances in farming that require less human input have made ghost towns of formerly thriving agricultural centers, hollowing out a robust and beautiful culture built over centuries. God cares about that, and we should, too, even if it’s not always clear how to help such communities.
God really did make farmers. He created a garden and put humans in it to cultivate the land under His loving guidance. We’ve gone wrong in that vocation in many ways, but God is still calling us to it – to feed the world, to care for creation and other people, and to honor Him as we do it. Thinking Christianly about agriculture is about stewardship of God’s amazing gifts.
