AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT: METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL ASPECTS

Abstract

Theoretical and methodological aspects related to environment questions in agriculture are discussed. The growing search for alternative and ecologically balanced techniques to agricultural production is not only due to more consciousness of the public opinion, but also due to yield problems of the conventional practices brought about by the impact of oil price raising and by the cumulative effects of environment degradation on the production costs. Despite the evidences, attention is called to the fact that consensus is far away of the dominant and current standard of modernization. Only deeper studies on the factors that induced to this direction could allow overcoming the situation. Diverse theoretical approaches (marxist and neoclassic) that investigate the technical progress are criticized because they assume determinist positions, which limit the analysis. Ecodevelopment concept is introduced as being capable to realize a non-determinist view of the process of technological change when it claims the non-contradiction between economic growth and environment preservation. On the methodological point-of-view, this claiming appoints to: availability of technical alternatives has to be proved, on one hand; and the many factors inducing to the current technical progress have to be understood, on the other hand.