| Title |
Roles and responsibilities in transition? Farmers' ethics in the bio-economy |
| ID_Doc |
15495 |
| Authors |
Robaey, Z; Asveld, L; Osseweijer, P |
| Title |
Roles and responsibilities in transition? Farmers' ethics in the bio-economy |
| Year |
2018 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.3920/978-90-8686-869-8_5 |
| Abstract |
Concepts of bio-economy and the circular economy come at a time where technological solutions are increasingly needed to move away from a fossil-fuel based economy in the context of climate change and other rising environmental concerns such as waste disposal. These technological solutions rely not only on the use of biotechnology but also on the use of biomass produced by farmers world-wide. The origins of this biomass might become increasingly specialised, for instance through the use of energy crops, or existing edible crops might find to have multiple uses for varied industries. Farmers, then, become an important provider of a resource that might be needed by many, and that is not food or feed. What arable land is used for and how it is used is a question of moral significance (Kline et al, 2017). The role of farmers in the bio-economy is of moral significance. What are the roles and responsibilities of farmers in the context of this transition? What is a farmer's ethics in the bioeconomy? Most studies on farmers seem to focus on behavior and policy incentives impact on behavior. Recently, Meijboom and Stafleu (2016) suggested that entrusting farmers with professional moral autonomy increases the chance of them formulating innovative answers to ethical issues. This ties in with three recent arguments in the ethics of technology. First, Asveld (2016) argues that experimenting and thereby learning (as in moral learning, learning about impacts and institutional learning) is necessary for the bioeconomy. Second, Robaey (2016a) argues that in order to be morally responsible for new technologies they use, farmers must have access to knowledge and develop their epistemic virtues (2016b). Last but not least, the suggestion that the bio-economy and its technologies might improve the life of farmers invites looking into Oosterlaken's (2015) arguments on the capabilities approach and its relation to new technologies. In this paper, we want to articulate the relation between farmer's values, virtues, and capabilities in order to first flesh out the implications of the professional moral autonomy argument and thereby to provide a framework for conceptualizing their changing roles and responsibilities in the context of the bio-economy. |
| Author Keywords |
virtues; values; capabilities; professional moral autonomy; bioeconomy |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science (CPCI-S); Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH) |
| EID |
WOS:000593891000005 |
| WoS Category |
Agricultural Economics & Policy; Ethics; Management |
| Research Area |
Agriculture; Social Sciences - Other Topics; Business & Economics |
| PDF |
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