ABSTRACT
Images of knowledge are of great importance in understanding various visions of agriculture. For Wendell Berry knowledge is not a possession but a way of being: knowing is knowing how to act. There are good reasons why it seems both so difficult, and in Berry’s view so unwise, to attempt to dissect knowledge out of the matrix of skills, attitudes, and ways of being which make responsible actions possible. Berry frequently makes the point that many problems of agriculture lie in the overspecialized organization of land grant universities. A wise use of scientific knowledge is possible; such knowledge should promote “the greatest possible technological and genetic diversity, in conformation to local need, as opposed to the present dangerous uniformity in both categories”. Knowledge will come from and sustain a commitment to work the farm as patiently and gently as parents would work with their children.
