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卓越性と多様性

 「作物生産」、「生産・環境生物学」、「生産生態学」…「生産」(production)という時、量が重要であることが前提だ。農学では「量」の多い少ないを重要事とする。それは実際的に考え生きていく際に、至極当然のことである。求められる量を少なくとも達成したいし、すばらしく多く生産すれば、すばらしいと世の称賛を受ける。「卓越」とは量的な概念だ。多くの人は5本とか6本とか7本を生み出すが、あの人は50本生み出した、スゴイ!(=卓越)ということになる。

 一方、「生物多様性」のように「多様性」(diversity)という時、存在していることを基礎にしていて、存在を肯定している。機能としての「生産」は問題にしない。

 以前、functional diveristy(機能的な多様性)という意味の本を見かけたことがあった。多様性は、生産にもポジティブな意味がある、という主張だったが、そういう側面を説明することは可能ではあろう。しかし多様性は、基本的には、卓越性に縛られない、別個の考え方である。

 経験的にいうと、人間は何かを作り出そうとする性質を持っていて、卓越性を志向する性質を持っている。その度合いが強くなると、多様性は減少していく。卓越性は、いわば、効率の良い大きな生産工場のようなものだが、それを建てられ稼働できる場所(対象)は、限られているように思う。大きな工場は建てられない場所(対象)がある。

 卓越性と多様性を、東京大学は重視している。これは知恵と思慮であり、真理を探究する器として喜ばしいことだ。前者を掲げるなら、後者も配慮することが重要だろう。

Dialogue with agricultural sciences 1

When I was a master student in the Crop Science Laboratory of Dr. Ryuichi Ishii (deceased), I had a graduate seminar on "What is Agricultural Sciences?" Ms Toshie Takagi, who was on the staff of the Breeding Science Laboratory, and others invited me to their study group.

During my PhD study on the differences in nitrogen utilization among sorghum varieties under the supervision of Professor Shu Fukai (Professor Emeritus, University of Queensland), I was instructed on how to conduct research on crop physiology, including cultivation trials, compilation, and thesis writing. After submitting my dissertation, I spent almost 3 years as a project researcher at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, the famous key global agricultural research institute for Green Revolution, working under Dr. Len Wade on improvement of rainfed rice varieties. I was allowed to visit his rainfed rice consortium in Thailand, Bangladesh, and India.

I had a chance to visit the farm of Mr. Shinpei Murakami, a special farmer dispatched from Japan to support organic farming in Thailand, and had a chance to talk with him, but for some reason, we did not hit it off. Why was the talk not so constructive with Mr. Murakami, who was trying to develop organic agriculture in Thailand? This memory was a valuable experience for me in understanding the relative position of agricultural science in society. Later, in 1999, I started working as a faculty member at the University of Tokyo. Ever since, I opened a graduate course, "Sustainability and Agricultural Science" in which I include social justice. It is the responsibility and privilege of university faculty members to consider the state of agricultural science in a society composed of diverse members and to develop a better vision for it.

Compared to engineering, which also involves manufacturing, agricultural science, which deals more directly with nature and biological resources, presents an unparalleled variety of aspects due to the diversity of the natural environment and the degree of freedom in how we interact with living organisms. It also asks how we, as part of nature, design our own production and consumption activities.

Diversity includes not only the natural environment, but also historical transitions, cultures, ethnicities, and races, as well as diversity due to differences in economic power. If we recognize the diversity of agriculture on the basis of justice, rather than by the logic of power and numbers, we can expect that the agricultural insights will bring about significant change in reconciling and repairing the "divisions" that have become a problem in contemporary society.

We want to convey not only the body of knowledge, but also the heart of agricultural sciences. Agricultural sciences are not only described as the third person mode, but they can partly be portrayed in the second and first person modes. There must also be another mode of person. It may be possible to depict agricultural sciences metaphorically as the activity of tending the garden, sowing and reaping the fields, and stocking toward the city..

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