ROBERT GRONSKI - National Catholic Rural Life Conference
A Vision for Agriculture in the Jubilee Spirit

According to the Law of Moses, the tradition of Jubilee meant the restitution of land to original owners, the remission of debts, the liberation of those in bondage and letting the land lie fallow. (The trumpet with which this particular year was announced was a goat’s horn called Yobel in Hebrew, and the origin of the word jubilee.) According to the Encyclopedia of Catholicism, "The theological meaning of the Jubilee was that all life and land belongs to God." In this spirit, the Church can offer a vision for modern agriculture.

The year 2000 was a Jubilee Year. In the Roman Catholic tradition, this is a special religious event for the forgiveness of sins. It is a year of reconciliation between adversaries, an opportunity for conversion, and a time of solidarity, hope and justice. In the words of the Vatican: "A Jubilee year is above all the year of Christ, who brings life and grace to humanity."

How does this relate to agriculture? In November 2000, I attended the Vatican’s Jubilee of the Agricultural World on behalf of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. The Vatican had planned a host of Jubilee days throughout that year, and November 12th was a special Mass to acknowledge the toils of farmers and farmworkers. The day also celebrated the fruits of their labor. In his homily that Sunday, Pope John Paul II said: "You have come to give thanks for the fruits of the earth, but first of all to acknowledge him as the Creator, the most beautiful fruit of our earth, the "fruit" of Mary’s womb, the Savior of humanity and, in a certain sense, of the "cosmos" itself. Indeed, creation, as Paul says, "has been groaning in travail" and cherishes the hope of being set free "from its bondage to decay" (Rom 8:21-22)."

The "groaning" of the earth, the Holy Father went on to say, prompts us to think of the work of men and women in agriculture, "work that is so important and yet not free from discomfort and hardship."

In addition to the traditional burdens of agriculture marked by weather and climatic misfortunes, Pope John Paul II spoke of the burdens "due to human carelessness." He said agricultural activity in our modern era has had to reckon with the consequences of industrialization. "Agricultural work should be better organized and supported by social measures that fully reward the toil it involves and the truly great usefulness that characterizes it. If the world of the most refined technology is not reconciled with the simple language of nature in a healthy balance, human life will face ever greater risks, of which we are already seeing the first disturbing signs."

Pope John Paul II reminded those who work in agriculture to be grateful to the Lord, and to work in such a way "that you resist the temptations of a productivity and profit that are detrimental to the respect for nature. God entrusted the earth to human beings "to till it and keep it" (cf. Gn 2:15). When this principle is forgotten and they become the tyrants rather than the custodians of nature, sooner or later nature will rebel."

THE TEMPTATIONS OF PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFIT

Following these words of the Holy Father, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference began working to articulate a vision for agriculture in the 21st century. Whereas the Jubilee tradition expressed an ideal for an agrarian people, we believe a Jubilee spirit can inform a modern vision for care of creation and rural communities. If the Jubilee tradition was a vehicle for communal conversion– the religious, cultural, economic and ecological conversion of the community– then the Jubilee spirit can help us express a vision for agriculture that stands, as much of the scriptures do, in contrast to earthly dominations that hold us captive.

Therefore, a vision for agriculture in the Jubilee spirit must recognize, and see through, the temptations of productivity and profit that shape our world today:

Degradation of natural resources: soil loss; fertilizer and chemical run-off into streams; ecological declines in river deltas and ocean estuaries; loss of habitat and bio-diverse ecosystems.
Loss of prime farmland: urban sprawl; poorly planned housing developments; lucrative recreational uses.
Consolidation of farms: loss of smaller family farms; barriers to new and beginning farmers; decline of rural communities, both in population and services.
Dysfunctional farm subsidy programs: subsidizing bulk commodities that result in excessive surpluses and lower farmgate prices; subsidizing commodity crops that do not reflect USDA food pyramid recommendations.
Inequity of farm payments: allowing the largest share of payments going to largest producers, regardless of need; subsidizing a few select commodities when virtually all agricultural products suffer from low farmgate prices.
Corporate concentration: a few large agri-food corporations supplying agricultural inputs and purchasing agricultural products; squeezing farmers and ranchers between high input costs and low farmgate prices; controlling the supply chain from seeds and genetics all the way to supermarket shelves and restaurants.
Global trade negotiations: creating rules that make trade fair and just; responding to international pleas to prohibit agricultural subsidies that lead to dumping of agricultural products below the cost of production.
Fossil fuel use: reducing consumption and controlling greenhouse gas emissions; improving energy efficiencies on the farm; growing food locally and reducing transport distances.

In order to face these problems, and indeed farm crises, farm advocates and policymakers will need to go beyond conventional thinking. Farmers and ranchers are still told to trust in efficiency gains, new technologies, farm expansion, and export markets. When will this conventional wisdom be seen as folly? Those dwindling farm families who stay on the land have found only one solution: working off the farm to save their farm.

BACK TO BASICS BEFORE MOVING AHEAD

The elements of an agricultural policy in the Jubilee spirit begin with the Gospel teaching to provide food for all. But first we must overcome the myth that the American farmer is feeding the world through technological efficiencies. There is a great gap of despair between food surpluses in the world market and the millions of people who go hungry every day. We cannot be misled by those profit-oriented corporations who claim to be the "supermarket to the world" and global leaders in nourishing people. Expanding global trade may contribute to food provisions, but the better way to provide food for all is to develop local agriculture and secure food production in local hands.

A second essential element in agriculture is to grow what is good for the earth. If our agricultural policy rewards only those who increase yields without sustaining their land base, then we will not reach another Jubilee Year. We need an agricultural vision where we live and work in relationships with the land. We must end the tyranny of commodity row crops and exportable cash crops, season after season, that set farmers on a treadmill of industrial inputs. To care for the land while reaping sufficient profits for sustainable livelihoods– these are complex challenges that our research and government institutions must squarely face. As a society, however, each of us must be clear in our elemental relationship to the land: who do we want to grow our food? Who shall be the stewards of the land?

Urban and rural communities working together can act to develop the economic relationships and political representation to preserve agriculture as a way of life. In some parts of the country, we are beginning to see urban-rural linkages among environmental, consumer, farm and labor groups. Faith groups are also coming to these crossroads; people of all faiths are beginning to see agriculture, food and the environment as religious issues. They see care of the land and provision of food as moral concerns, and it is fitting they should do so in the spirit of Jubilee.

Rural landscapes are unique and therefore we should maintain a diversity of social, cultural and agricultural practices. A new agrarian vision in the Jubilee spirit rejects the concentration of monocultural livestock or grain production carrying great swaths of land. Agricultural diversity creates balance and offers more opportunities for rural development. Most importantly, the countryside retains the presence of families living on the land in communion with the natural environment and in community with one another.
Farming and stewardship are seen as one in the same. Farmers fulfill their obligation in the Jubilee spirit by participating in conservation and stewardship programs that allow the land to recover and replenish. Society in general shows support through public "green payments" and other stewardship incentives that help family farms maintain a viable income.
Urban visitors are a welcome sight in the countryside as they renew their ties to the land and to the people who grow their food. School children make educational
field trips and learn firsthand how food is grown.
Main Street revives and cultural life once again thrives in small towns and rural communities. The greater number of independent farm producers, the greater number of businesses, services and organizations in the community. Along with the greater number of families, rural areas can expect more schools, social activities and cultural events that create a sense of community.
Independent farms operated by families on a full-time basis thrive throughout the countryside.

In the Jubilee spirit, we are continually called to renew the Earth and turn away from exhausting the resources of Creation. When we eat our daily bread, let us remember those who till and keep the earth. Let us seek guidance and give voice to our vision of a new agrarian landscape. Let us live, eat, work and farm in the Jubilee spirit.

Robert Gronski is Policy Coordinator at NCRLC in Des Moines, IA. Visit www.ncrlc.com.


National Catholic Rural Life Conference
4625 Beaver Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50310-2199
(515) 270-2634
email address: ncrlc@mchsi.com
website: www.ncrlc.com

This article was published in the Winter 2005 issue of Catholic Rural Life©. No portion of this article may be reproduced without written permission from The National Catholic Rural Life Conference. To purchase the Winter 2005 issue of Catholic Rural Life, please contact The National Catholic Rural Life Conference office at 4625 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50310-2199, call (515) 270-2634, or e-mail ncrlc@mchsi.com. The cost is $2.50 an issue plus postage and handling.