Risk Management And Morality In Agriculture
Conventional And Organic Farming In A German Region

Moral dimensions in risk perception and risk-taking in agriculture, a cultural domain, which is in various respects particularly conflict-ridden, determine ideas of responsibility for remedial ecological action. Moral judgements constitute a fundamental cultural rule system for initiating processes of change in environmental contexts. In Western cultures there are basically two different risk management strategies in this field, involving different risks and uncertainties with respect to marketing, income and environment. One is called 'conventional', the other 'organic' farming. When differences and similarities between these are outlined on the basis of recent literature, it turns out that in the conventional strategy economic conditions are more relevant than ecological ones.