Where Agriculture Meets Empire

Wes Jackson and his colleagues at the Land Institute are working on a 10,000 year-old problem -- agriculture. Not simply problems in agriculture, but the problem of agriculture.

That fundamental problem is that no one has come up with a sustainable system for perpetuating agricultural productivity. High yields mask what Jackson has called "the failure of success": Production remains high while the health of the soil continues to decline dramatically -- primarily because of erosion and chemical contamination of land and water. That kind of success guarantees the inevitable collapse of the system.

Agriculture isn't the only system we live with that is unsustainable -- empire and capitalism also come to mind quickly. How are these systems connected to each other? How long can such systems continue before they give way to something new? Can they be replaced before they take the planet down with them? Who and what will suffer in the meantime? And, what can movements do to change all this? Jackson has some provocative ideas about -- though he'd be the first to admit, no definitive answers to -- these questions.

Twenty-seven years ago, Jackson -- then a professor of environmental studies at California State University-Sacramento with degrees in botany and genetics -- co-founded the Land Institute to pursue a long-term solution to the problem of agriculture, delving into both the scientific and cultural aspects. The goal, articulated in the Land Institute's mission statement, is agriculture that will allow people, communities, and the land to prosper in sustainable fashion.

The research into what they call "natural systems agriculture" (NSA) investigates ways that monoculture annual grains (such as corn and wheat) can be replaced by polyculture (grown in combinations) perennial grains. NSA attempts to mimic nature instead of subduing it. Jackson points out that when left alone, a natural ecosystem such as a prairie recycles materials, sponsors its own fertility, runs on contemporary sunlight, and increases biodiversity. The question NSA poses is whether agriculture can be designed to increase ecological wealth in such fashion rather than degrade it.

Jackson, who currently serves as the president of the Land Institute, is the author of several books, including "New Roots for Agriculture," "Altars of Unhewn Stone" and "Becoming Native to This Place." In his writing and frequent lectures, Jackson explores the intersection of science and society, agronomy and ecology, culture and politics. His talks are a lively mix of styles -- country preacher, old-time storyteller, hard-nosed scientist, and political organizer. Jackson is blunt about the problems of the culture and agriculture but hopeful about the possibilities of change, and his folksy style allows him to launch fairly radical ideas in ways that don't seem threatening. I began my interview with him by asking him to expand on several slogans he had tossed out at Prairie Festival, the annual celebration of the Land Institute, in 2001.

Robert Jensen: At the 25th anniversary celebration you offered three aphorisms that seem to turn conventional political wisdom on its head -- "If we walk our talk, we won't get there," "We need to spend more time preaching to the choir," and "We've got to quit meeting people where they are." Explain what you meant.

Wes Jackson: "If we walk our talk, we won't get there" is the easy one. Look, I ride jet planes. I drive. My household is tied into the grid. We're all dependent on the extractive economy. If we were to "walk the talk" -- if we were to really live within the limits of a renewal life-support system with no subsidies from coal or portable liquid fuels or the poison of nuclear power -- we would have trouble making our voices heard in the culture.