16
Subtle Agroecologies
agriculture. Depending on the situation, this may take a goal-oriented, reductionist focus on, for
example, increasing crop and livestock yields or reducing the incidence of pests and diseases, or a
wide-angled vision of simultaneously working with multiple factors and concerns, all based on an
ethics of care and with the overall purpose of bringing and maintaining balance and harmony to the
farm (and the farmer), the community, and the world.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has discussed the application of Subtle Agroecological farming practices as a means
not only to enhance the sustainability of agriculture but also to fundamentally shift the way we
treat nature as a whole. If ecologically based farming is to be truly holistic in its practice and live
up to its claims of embracing indigenous knowledge and worldviews, then a serious consideration
of Subtle Agroecologies is long overdue. By working on the vibrational-energetic dimension, by
becoming more adept at embodied practices that enable more conscious interaction with nature, and
by re-evaluating our understanding of our place in the world, we might move towards the healing of
the hemispheric rift or imbalance that McGilchrist, Baring and others have spelled out. Through the
re-enchantment of agriculture, we may go a long way towards achieving the balance and harmony
that contemporary, ecologically based farming movements are ultimately aiming for.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to George McAllister, Miche Fabre Lewin and Flora Gathorne-Hardy for helpfully commenting on earlier drafts of this chapter.
REFERENCES
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. (2016) Going beyond Demos to Transform African Agriculture:
The Journey of AGRA’s Soil Health Program. Nairobi: AGRA.
Altieri, M.A. (1995) Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture, 2nd Edition. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
Altieri, M. and Toledo, V. (2011) The agroecological revolution in Latin America: Rescuing nature, ensuring
food sovereignty and empowering peasants. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 38(3): 587–612.
Balfour, E.B. (1977) Towards a Sustainable Agriculture - The Living Soil. Address to an IFOAM Conference
in Switzerland in 1977. Reproduced with permission from the Organic Gardening and Farming Society
of Tasmania Inc© 1995, Canberra Organic Growers Society Inc. https://www.cogs.asn.au/, Available
online: https://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010116Balfourspeech.html (accessed
October 10th 2020, paras 41, 62).
Baring, A. (2020) The Dream of the Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul, 3rd edition. Dorset: Archive Publishing.
Barton, G.A. (2018) The Global History of Organic Farming. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barucha, Z. and Pretty, J. (2010) The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365: 2913–2926.
BDCert (2012) Demeter and Organic Production Standards, for the Use of Demeter and Related Trademarks.
Stroud: Biodynamic Association Certifcation. December 2012 edition. http://bdcertifcation.org.uk/wp/
wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Organic-and-Demeter_Production-Standards.pdf (accessed September
10th 2020).
Berman, M. (1981) The Re-Enchantment of the World. Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press.
Burke, J. and Halberg, L. (2005) Seed of Knowledge, Stone of Plenty: Understanding the Lost Technology of
the Ancient Megalith-Builders. San Francisco/Tulsa: Council Oak Books.
Caddy, E. (1978) Foundations of Findhorn. Moray: Findhorn Press.
Callicott, J.B. (1990) The metaphysical transition in farming: From the Newtonian-mechanical to the Eltonian
ecological. Journal of Agricultural Ethics 3: 36–49.
Chief Dan George (2004) The Best of Chief Dan George. British Colombia: Hancock House Publishers.
Clunies-Ross, T. (1990) Organic food: Swimming against the tide. In Marsden, T. and Little, J. (eds.), Political,
Social and Economic Perspectives on the International Food System. Aldershot: Avebury, pp. 200–214.
Subtle Agroecologies
agriculture. Depending on the situation, this may take a goal-oriented, reductionist focus on, for
example, increasing crop and livestock yields or reducing the incidence of pests and diseases, or a
wide-angled vision of simultaneously working with multiple factors and concerns, all based on an
ethics of care and with the overall purpose of bringing and maintaining balance and harmony to the
farm (and the farmer), the community, and the world.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has discussed the application of Subtle Agroecological farming practices as a means
not only to enhance the sustainability of agriculture but also to fundamentally shift the way we
treat nature as a whole. If ecologically based farming is to be truly holistic in its practice and live
up to its claims of embracing indigenous knowledge and worldviews, then a serious consideration
of Subtle Agroecologies is long overdue. By working on the vibrational-energetic dimension, by
becoming more adept at embodied practices that enable more conscious interaction with nature, and
by re-evaluating our understanding of our place in the world, we might move towards the healing of
the hemispheric rift or imbalance that McGilchrist, Baring and others have spelled out. Through the
re-enchantment of agriculture, we may go a long way towards achieving the balance and harmony
that contemporary, ecologically based farming movements are ultimately aiming for.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to George McAllister, Miche Fabre Lewin and Flora Gathorne-Hardy for helpfully commenting on earlier drafts of this chapter.
REFERENCES
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. (2016) Going beyond Demos to Transform African Agriculture:
The Journey of AGRA’s Soil Health Program. Nairobi: AGRA.
Altieri, M.A. (1995) Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture, 2nd Edition. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
Altieri, M. and Toledo, V. (2011) The agroecological revolution in Latin America: Rescuing nature, ensuring
food sovereignty and empowering peasants. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 38(3): 587–612.
Balfour, E.B. (1977) Towards a Sustainable Agriculture - The Living Soil. Address to an IFOAM Conference
in Switzerland in 1977. Reproduced with permission from the Organic Gardening and Farming Society
of Tasmania Inc© 1995, Canberra Organic Growers Society Inc. https://www.cogs.asn.au/, Available
online: https://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010116Balfourspeech.html (accessed
October 10th 2020, paras 41, 62).
Baring, A. (2020) The Dream of the Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul, 3rd edition. Dorset: Archive Publishing.
Barton, G.A. (2018) The Global History of Organic Farming. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barucha, Z. and Pretty, J. (2010) The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365: 2913–2926.
BDCert (2012) Demeter and Organic Production Standards, for the Use of Demeter and Related Trademarks.
Stroud: Biodynamic Association Certifcation. December 2012 edition. http://bdcertifcation.org.uk/wp/
wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Organic-and-Demeter_Production-Standards.pdf (accessed September
10th 2020).
Berman, M. (1981) The Re-Enchantment of the World. Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press.
Burke, J. and Halberg, L. (2005) Seed of Knowledge, Stone of Plenty: Understanding the Lost Technology of
the Ancient Megalith-Builders. San Francisco/Tulsa: Council Oak Books.
Caddy, E. (1978) Foundations of Findhorn. Moray: Findhorn Press.
Callicott, J.B. (1990) The metaphysical transition in farming: From the Newtonian-mechanical to the Eltonian
ecological. Journal of Agricultural Ethics 3: 36–49.
Chief Dan George (2004) The Best of Chief Dan George. British Colombia: Hancock House Publishers.
Clunies-Ross, T. (1990) Organic food: Swimming against the tide. In Marsden, T. and Little, J. (eds.), Political,
Social and Economic Perspectives on the International Food System. Aldershot: Avebury, pp. 200–214.