Wendell Berry makes a lot of good points in his essay, "The Unsettling of America Culture and Agriculture." We have abused our soil, we do waste our agriculture resources, and we do rely too much on machines that use up non-renewable energy sources. However, as a women who spent the early part of her life on a South American farm that did not have machines, I disagree with Mr. Berry's point that we are better off without machines. He talks a lot about humans bonding with their farm animals. That does happen, but it is back-breaking work plowing a field with an ox or donkey. There are always accidents with farm animals and when one of them dies, you can't just buy a part to fix it. Also, it isn't realistic. If half the farmers went back to stone age farming techniques, the other half who don't would quickly put them out of business.
Berry is right... we do need to use our farm resources more wisely, but it will never be able to go back to the way it used to be.
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