Ditzler, Lenora Driessen, Clemens
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Robots are widely expected—and pushed—to transform open-field agriculture, but these visions remain wedded to optimizing monocultural farming systems. Meanwhile there is little pull for automation from ecology-based, diversified farming realms. Noting this gap, we here explore the potential for robots to foster an agroecological approach to crop pr...
Gerber, Sophie Hiernaux, Quentin
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
This paper elucidates the philosophical origins of the conception of plants as machines and analyses the contemporary technical and ethical consequences of that thinking. First, we explain the historical relationship between the explicit animal machine thesis of Descartes and the implicit plant machine thesis of today. Our hypothesis is that, altho...
Urmetzer, Sophie Schlaile, Michael P. Blok, Vincent Pyka, Andreas
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
This collection of papers builds on the idea that the bioeconomy provides a framework for potentially effective solutions addressing the grand global challenges by a turn towards an increased use of biological resources, towards renewability and circularity. Consequently, it cannot be perceived as an end in itself. Thus, innovative endeavors within...
Krimsky, Sheldon
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
The controversy over glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), where there is extreme divergences in health and environmental assessments, is rooted in several methodological and normative factors. Foremost among them are the differences found in testing pure glyphosate compared to the testing of glyphosate formulations. The adjuvant chemicals found in f...
Milburn, Josh
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
What we could call ‘relational non-interventionism’ holds that we have no general obligation to alleviate animal suffering, and that we do not typically have special obligations to alleviate wild animals’ suffering. Therefore, we do not usually have a duty to intervene in nature to alleviate wild animal suffering. However, there are a range of rela...
Veraart, Roeland Christiaan Blok, Vincent
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
In this paper, we criticize the current focus of the bio-based economy (BBE) on efficiency and control and demonstrate the contradictions that this causes. We elucidate these tensions by comparing the BBE to alternative conceptions of economy that emphasise the relevance of both the human condition and unfathomable nature in the macro ecological tr...
Gibson, Julia D.
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Committee composition is a recurrent theme within the literature on Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). The ability of IACUCs to ensure the ethical treatment of nonhuman research subjects depends upon who makes up these committees. Non-scientists and those not affiliated with the research institution have been deemed indispensabl...
Reis, Germano Glufke Molento, Carla Forte Maiolino Souza, Ana Paula Oliveira
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
This article discusses the extent to which Global Value Chain (GVC) governance may lead to animal welfare (AW) improvement and help to alleviate animal suffering in food producing chains. Our approach relied on scrutinizing two of the most used compulsory certification templates which are enforced by major buyers to their suppliers in order to assu...
Medaas, Christian Lien, Marianne E. Gismervik, Kristine Kristiansen, Tore S. Osmundsen, Tonje Størkersen, Kristine Vedal Tørud, Brit Stien, Lars Helge
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
The welfare of farmed fish is often regarded with less concern than the welfare of other husbandry animals, as fish are not universally classified as sentient beings. In Norway, farmed fish and other husbandry animals are legally protected under the same laws. Additionally, the legislature has defined a number of aquaculture-specific amendments, in...
Laursen, Danielle Caroline Meijboom, Franck L. B.
Published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Innovation in fisheries is a global development that focuses on a broad range of aims. One example is a project that aims to develop technology for key phases of the demersal fishery operation to improve product quality and safeguard fish welfare. As this step to include welfare is novel, it raises questions associated with stakeholder acceptance i...
