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Indiana Law Review
Volume 53 2020 Number 1
SYMPOSIUM
AFTER AGRARIAN VIRTUE
JAMES MING CHEN*
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is irredeemable.
T.S. ELIOT, FOUR QUARTETS'
I. PRINCIPIIS OBSTA
Stretched across the entirety of time, history represents a modern 'creation
myth' that 'reflects the best attempts of our society to answer questions about
origins.2 Among stories vying to solidify and unite the species, no creation
myth boasts greater narrative scope or deeper scientific support than evolution.3
[B]eautifully suited to anchor our search for planetary consensus, the Epic of
Evolution promises to unite not just human tribes, but our species with the entire
tapestry of life.4
Contemplating agriculture and its regulation over this time frame leaves no
doubt that agricultural law is a branch of environmental law. By the same token,
marking time on a geological clock reinforces the cosmic insignificance of
anthropocentric interests. In the long run all species are extinct.' Among five [to]
* Justin Smith Morrill Chair in Law, Michigan State University; Of Counsel, Technology
Law Group of Washington, D.C.; Visiting Scholar, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and
Business (Ekonomski Fakultet, Sveueihiste u Zagrebu). Andrew Torrance, Daniel Barnhizer, David
Blankfein-Tabachnick, Susan A. Schneider, Amy Parish, Lisa R. Pruitt, Jeffrey A. Sexton, Steven
Tiger, and Pamela Vesilind provided useful comments. Special thanks to Heather Elaine Worland
Chen.
1. T.S. ELIOT, FOUR QUARTETS 13 (lst ed. 1968).
2. David Christian, The Case for Big History, 2 J. WORLD HIST. 223, 235 (1991).
3. EDWARD O. WILSON, THE FUTURE OF LIFE 133 (2002).
4. URSULA GOODENOUGH, THE SACRED DEPTHS OF NATURE 174 (1998).
5. See generally, e.g., Jim Chen, Get Green or Get Out: Decoupling Environmental from
Economic Objectives in Agricultural Regulation, 33 OKLA. L. REv. 333 (1995); J.B. Ruhl, Farms,
Their Environmental Harms, and Environmental Law, 27 ECOLOGY L.Q. 263 (2000).
6. Cf JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES, A TRACT ON MONETARY REFORM 80 (1923) (In the long
run we are all dead.) (emphasis in original).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/indilr53&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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