Abstract

In this essay, we provide a synthesis of several disciplines to reveal the self-defeating nature of the agricultural system (AS) in the state of Iowa, US. The main argument of the essay is focused on how the system reproduces and protects itself even as it is self-defeating. The AS under consideration is egregiously damaging to the natural and human environment. We analyze and discuss the specifics of this damage and the interrelationships between the essential aspects of the system. We argue, within this analysis, that the AS is a social-political-economic system or, one might reasonably say, an ontology with an underlying conceptual scheme. So, in analyzing the AS, we conclude that the difficulty of altering the AS is the difficulty of altering a deeply embedded conceptual scheme. Iowa is chosen as it is a paradigm of this form of AS.