Changing Ground: Handling Tensions between Production Ethics and Environmental Ethics of Agricultural Soils

Jan Diek van Mansvelt, Paul C. Struik, Arie Bos, Willem Daub, Diederick Sprangers, Mara van den Berg, Marieke Vingerhoets and Kees Zoeteman
Additional contact information
Jan Diek van Mansvelt: Down2Earth Foundation, 1399 HS Muiderberg, The Netherlands
Paul C. Struik: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands
Arie Bos: General Practitioner and Freelance Medical Writer, 1067 TD Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Willem Daub: Independent Researcher, 1862 DC Bergen, The Netherlands
Diederick Sprangers: Genethics Foundation, 6522 DP Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Mara van den Berg: Wij.land, 1396 HJ Abcoude, The Netherlands
Marieke Vingerhoets: Independent Researcher, 3971 GN Driebergen-Rijsenburg, The Netherlands
Kees Zoeteman: Het PON & Telos Institute, Tilburg University, 5038 ED Tilburg, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-17

Abstract: Soils are an essential element in sustainable food systems and vital for ecosystem services. Soils are degrading, because of urbanization, poor soil management, depletion and mining, over-use of inputs and impacts of climate change. Poor soil management resulted from short-term yield maximization caused by changes in land tenure, property rights and land use. We argue for soil protection based on the concept of soil telos defined as the combined purposefulness in agricultural production and terrestrial ecosystem optimization. It includes the right of mankind to use soils, provided norms and values are respected based on the soil’s usefulness, its natural purposefulness and its right to be protected (including its physical, chemical and biological cycles). Finding a sustainable balance between these values and rights on the one hand and the need to use living soils for agricultural production on the other hand requires a new approach to soil management based on widely accepted norm- and value-driven decisions on unavoidable trade-offs. Reconciling man-made telos and natural telos , requires (i) empowering the soil to achieve its man-made telos (e.g., by restoring degraded soils); (ii) empowering the soil to achieve its natural telos (e.g., by restoring water courses); (iii) raising awareness about the need to reconcile these two teloi (e.g., by acknowledging rights of soils); and (iv) monitoring tools to assess successful reconciliation (e.g., by evaluating soil health).

Keywords: food system; right of nature; soil ethics; soil health; sustainable soil management; telos (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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