IMPACT OF PERSONAL VALUES ON AGRICULTURAL-RESEARCH

The scientific cadre often assumes that research and farming decisions are value-free. Biological scientists and agricultural producers need to recognize how our values influence the degree to which we engage d ifficult long-term economic, environmental, and social impacts of tech nology. Identification and clarification of values can help shape and inform decisions on research and production practices. Envisioning act ivities can create an awareness of the consequences of current systems and open new vistas for the future. Envisioning how a farm or a commu nity can appear in 25 years engenders challenges to current assumption s about efficiencies of scale, impacts of new technologies, and social consequences of changes in agricultural systems. Scientists can ''lea rn from The future'' by examining successful and unsuccessful models t ried in other places and times, and create prejerable futures that ref lect values of producers and society rather than accepting a trend-bas ed future for each farm and community.