Why should agricultural development value the ethical dimension?

Scientific agricultural behavior should follow the basic laws of natural ecosystems. It cannot be denied that industrialization has brought new opportunities and new means to agricultural modernization. But regrettably, while advancing agricultural modernization, people have developed a tendency to neglect the laws of agriculture itself. To build modern agriculture, we must value the ethical dimension of agricultural development.

China's understanding of the relationship between agriculture and the environment dates back to ancient times. The earliest understanding of the environment was "heaven," that is, the general term for the vast universe. The understanding of heaven unfolded roughly in three progressively developed levels: the first level was awe toward heaven. The Book of Documents, Canon of Yao records: "He then commanded Xi and He, in reverent accordance with the vast heaven, to compute and delineate the sun, the moon, and the stars, and reverently to bestow to the people the seasons." Xunzi further pointed out: "Thus, if the seasons for rearing and growing are observed, the six domestic animals will multiply; if the seasons for slaughter and birth are observed, plants and trees will propagate; if the seasons for government orders are observed, the common people will be united, and the worthy and good will submit." This is to say that animal rearing, plant propagation, and administrative management must all conform to the requirements of "timing," expounding the ethical relationship in which the temporal and spatial opportunities between people and heaven in an agricultural society are inseparably linked. The second level is communication between people and heaven. Mozi said: "When the five grains do not ripen, when the six domestic animals do not thrive, when diseases, disasters, epidemics, violent winds, and bitter rains come one after another, these are punishments sent down by heaven, to punish the people below for not conforming to heaven." The so-called interaction between heaven and humanity spoken of here is in essence people's cognition of and supplication to heaven. The third level is the adaptive use of heaven in accordance with objective laws. Xunzi pointed out, "To follow heaven and praise it, how does that compare with mastering heaven's mandate and using it." If human behavior systematically contradicts social laws and natural laws, the phenomenon of "human calamity" will arise. Laozi, proceeding from human survival, explored a human-centered thought that conforms to the laws of cosmic operation and accords with agricultural ethics. He placed "Dao," this natural law, at the highest level of the ethical structure, pushing the ethical system of Chinese culture to a historical peak. Chinese agricultural civilization was gradually developed under the edification of thought concerning humanity, earth, heaven, and Dao.

At present, resource and environmental problems such as air pollution, water scarcity, and soil pollution have confronted China's agricultural development with severe challenges. The unrestrained use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural film has damaged the agricultural ecological environment, and food safety problems trouble people's lives. Issues such as resources and the environment, food safety, and the urban-rural dual structure are all closely related to agricultural development and need to be analyzed, considered, and resolved from an ethical perspective.

First, timing. Reverence for heavenly timing in order to respond to the appropriate seasons. Not violating agricultural seasons is the Chinese nation's original understanding of agricultural ethics. From the Rites of Zhou's "Autumn Offices, Minister of Crime" and the "Record of Rites, Monthly Ordinances" to the rich expositions of the various schools of thought and miscellaneous popular texts, discussions related to seasonal suitability in China's history are as vast as the sea of smoke, and their basic principle is that every component within the ecosystem moves in accordance with phenological rhythms and in response to timing. The agroecosystem operates in a coordinated manner through complex interactions across multiple interfaces, and the subtlety and precision of its temporal order are difficult for modern science to exhaust. The modern agricultural system is trending toward globalization, extending even to the biosphere as a whole, and its temporal order is far more complex than before; the feeling of compliance with and reverence for heavenly timing is the foremost principle of agricultural ethics.

Second, earth. Bestowing virtue upon the earth in order to respond to the earth's virtue. Land is the carrier for the breeding of all things. The primary production of the agroecosystem depends entirely on land. Land is both the carrier of agricultural organisms and the product of the biological world, including agricultural organisms. The prosperity or decline and the quality of an agricultural system can be indicated by the fertility or barrenness of the land. Since the era of the Book of Songs, the Chinese people have often praised the land. The I Ching elevated this theoretically, calling it: the earth's condition is receptive devotion, and with broad virtue it sustains all things. In the Zhou Dynasty there was already a dedicated official known as the "Minister of Land and People." Guanzi's "Diyuan Pian" already systematically discussed land typology. Chinese folk customs often worship the land as a deity with the utmost reverence, and toward the land that sustains all things with broad virtue, one should naturally nurture it with virtue. One must absolutely avoid plundering and scraping the land, draining the pond to catch all the fish, causing it to become increasingly barren, or even applying poisons, so that it loses its virtue of sustaining things.

Third, measure. Commanding the measure of heaven and earth in order to determine taking and giving. Ecosystems are open and have the function of material output and input; agricultural activities therefore involve giving and harvesting. In the way of taking and giving, the nutrients of the agricultural system should be allowed to fluctuate within a certain threshold and maintain a relative balance, so as to maintain ecosystem health; this is what is meant by taking and giving with measure, in order to realize the reasonable cycling of nutrients in the ecosystem. Once nutrients cannot make ends meet and break through the fluctuation threshold, the vitality of the agricultural system tends toward decline. During China's period of the small-peasant economy, relying on farmers' intensive and meticulous cultivation, the agricultural system possessed relatively complete self-organizing capacity, and its vitality endured without decline over a long period. In the era of industrialization, one must absolutely avoid taking and giving without measure, which would cause the energy flow, material flow, and information flow of the agricultural system to dry up.

Fourth, law. Carefully and prudently managing in accordance with the laws of nature. "Man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows Dao, and Dao follows nature." A single word, "law," governs the way of management. Agricultural management includes land, the people attached to the land, and the entire process of agricultural production and product distribution. The complex technical and social work involved requires thoughtful ethical care, and the core of ethical care is layer upon layer of legal principle. The times require that China's agricultural ethics take the many systematic interfaces as nodes, connect the various systems into a whole, and extend linking keys at different interfaces, so that system coupling gradually expands, in order to make full use of the opportunities of the times to seek development. One must absolutely avoid subjective assumptions, throwing into disorder the sequence of the laws of humanity, earth, heaven, and Dao, spinning a cocoon around oneself, and sitting by while losing the good opportunity for progressive system coupling.