FARMING FOR ETHICS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE ETHICAL CHALLENGES OF MISSOURI CORN AND SOYBEAN PRODUCERS

Interviews with Missouri corn and soybean farmers reveal what farmers feel are the most important ethical challenges in agriculture. In contrast to the literature, which characterizes ethical challenges in term of philosophical debates about soil conservation, the use of pesticides and genetically modified seeds, or the treatment of animals, for instance, this research finds that farmers perceive ethical challenges in behavioral terms. The reason is rooted in the industrialization of agricultural production, which creates tensions for farmers between doing what they believe to be right and doing what they feel they must in order to survive.