Animals in the agrarian ideal

Abstract

Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and other American intellectuals of the 18th and 19th century created an agrarian ideal for farming that stressed the formation of moral uirtue,·citizenship values and personal character. This agrarian ideal provides a contrast to utilitarian norms, which value farming in terms of efficiency in producing food commodities. Thus, while efficiency criteria might be used to justify production practices that minimize management costs in animal agriculture, the agrarian ideal instead stipulates a role relationship between humans and animals as the norm for evaluating a farmer’s use of animals. An anecdotal account of the agrarian ideal in modern times is presented using children’s literature.