1. Explain clearly to the people of God our society’s responsibility to be better stewards of the earth. Less than two percent of the U.S. population is in farming, but we all together are responsible for the care of the land. Please lead us in a reflection of what this means in greater detail.
2. State clearly to the people of God the true cost of industrial agriculture in terms of environmental and human health. Acknowledge that chemically intensive model of agriculture, based on powerful and toxic substances, is frequently in conflict with our Catholic beliefs about stewardship. Help us reflect on the social ethics of our diet, food choices, economic choices, and agricultural practices.
3. Reject claims that our fully industrialized version of agriculture is inevitable. As a society we have choices with ethical implications, and this pastoral letter can provide for a space for reflecting the social choices we have. We do not have to travel further down the path of pesticides, genetic engineering, factory farming, and farmland loss. Our European brothers and sisters are demonstrating that our model of industrialized agriculture is not necessary. The Church could play a significant role in helping society make more sustainable choices.
4. The Church ought to vigorously support sustainable agriculture: farmers who are struggling to practice this, and public policies that will promote it. Sustainability can be described most succinctly as justice for future generations. A Biblical vision of agriculture is one that is sustainable. We do not have the right to deny future generations the same duty as a biological diversity that we enjoy today.
5. Ecological economics could be a significant service to your task. This is a branch of economics that promotes economic practices that ensure future generations enjoy the same quality of life as we do today. True cost accounting, including all externalities, of industrial agriculture should be considered for all environmental impacts, especially pesticides.
6. Economic analysis, from the perspective of economic justice rooted in Catholic social teaching, reveals that in the food system input industry’s profit immensely from increasing the industrialization of agriculture. Theirs is the largest voice in farm research and extension. Agrochemical industries continue to profit while farmers continue to lose their land to foreclosure.
7. Economic justice for farmers is necessary for them to be stewards. Farmers cannot care for the land if they are on the brink of foreclosure. A sufficient income, and their direct, personal relationship with the land, are necessary conditions for stewardship. The very nature of industrialized agriculture as it has developed over the past 50 years places farmers and economic disadvantage. Some analysts blame the farmer, but this is usually the conclusion of flawed analysis. Economic forces of the greatest obstacles to recruiting farmers to more sustainable practices.
8. There is no doubt that public officials must do more to insure that farmers are economically sustainable. They now receive less than a dime on the dollar. At the same time, 20 or 30 million Americans are food insecure. The Church should address the "cheap food vs. just wages for farmers" tension in current agricultural policy.
9. State clearly to policy makers the need to assist farmers with stewardship incentives. Fair prices are essential for the survival family farms, but our government has been providing financial assistance to farmers since the very beginning of industrialization of our agriculture. The question is not whether the government will provide economic assistance, but rather how, and to whom, and to what end. The Conservation Stewardship Program in the farm bill is quite welcome from this perspective.
10. Thoroughly question the need and appropriateness of genetic engineering technology in agriculture. Genuine, legitimate, and responsible questions about this technology have yet to be answered. Patents on life are incompatible with Catholic social teaching, but there are many other critical, yet unanswered, questions raised by this technology.
11. Encourage the people of God, whether farmers or eaters, or any one in between, to look for cooperative initiatives to protect the common good. For our Catholic vision of stewardship to be fulfilled, actors from many different segments of society will need to work together. More direct links can be favored through direct marketing initiatives, such as parish-based farmers markets or parish-based community supported agriculture.
12. Ensure all who hunger receive nutritious foods. Stay true to food sovereignty and the right of the people to control and protect their food system, be it local or national. Create an international system of fair trade that meets the needs of people and does not entrap them in a dependency on imports. Help everyone receive their daily bread.
In all our efforts, remember the Lord’s prayer:
Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins,
As we forgive who sin against us;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.