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When other nations are forced to rethink their agricultural and food security strategies in light of the post-peak oil debate, they only have one living example to draw from: that of Cuba in the 1990s. Based on the first and, up till now, only systematic and empirical study to come out of Cuba on this topic, this book examines how the nation successfully headed off its own food crisis after the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc in the early 1990s. It identifies the policies and practices required for such an achievement under conditions of petroleum-scarcity, and in doing so it challenges the more common, free market development approach as encouraged in other food-insecure countries and regions.

Paradoxically, the book debunks the myth that Cuba turned to a widespread organic approach to agriculture, a myth that is perpetuated by the majority of visitors to the country, who only encounter urban gardens. In rural regions, to which the author had authorized access, high-input and integrated agriculture was the intention, although practice was hampered by the fluctuations in availability of agrochemicals and fuel. Cuban institutions and individuals were confronted with a series of challenges to going down the organic route, and these challenges are identified as those that other countries will also have to face as they attempt to develop more sustainable, organic farming systems.

The book counters the rhetoric of international policy on achieving sustainable agriculture and food security for developing countries in the context of dwindling global supplies of fossil fuels, and provides useful learning material for the current fledgling attempts at energy descent plans and the mainstreaming of eco-living in industrialized nations.
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* Only reader of its kind in this field, edited by the world’s leading expert on sustainable agriculture
* Maps out the complex subject area of sustainable agriculture; introduces and explains key hard-to-find literature
* Highly accessible--the essential student reference text

Our agricultural and food systems are not meeting everyone’s needs, and despite great progress in increasing productivity over the past century, hundreds of millions of people remain hungry and malnourished. This book describes a different form of agriculture: one founded more on ecological principles and which is also more harmonious with people, their societies, and cultures. The latest in the Earthscan Reader Series, this volume brings together the most influential scholarship in the field, containing both theoretical developments and critical appraisals of evidence addressing what is not sustainable about current or past agricultural and food systems, as well as studies of transitions towards agricultural and rural sustainability at farm, community, regional, national, and international levels, and through food supply chains.
Related titles: Agri-Culture * The Living Land * Regenerating Agriculture (all by Jules Pretty) * The Pesticide Detox (edited by Jules Pretty) ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Establishes that the current factory farm,petroleum based agricultural system is not sustainable
Ikerd has done an excellent job of demonstrating that the current factory farm approach to farming is simply not economically sustainable or environmentally sound in the long run.It has TWO Achilles heels .The first is that it relies completely on petroleum based chemicals,fertilizers,pesticides,fungicides,and herbicides that, cumulatively, are contributing to significant soil erosion and top soil loss in order to produce and harvest various grain crops throughout the world.Increases in the price of a barrel of oil automatically translates into higher and higher food prices inall countries.Third world countries are especially impacted negatively .The second involves the factory farm extension to meat production.This approach requires the use of massive amounts of antibiotics to deal with/prevent the periodic outbreaks of contagious diseases that can spread through animal populations' crammed together like sardines in a can.These antibiotics also make the animals fatter,thus generating a higher profit per animal sold.Unfortunately,the social costs of such animal factory farms are passed down to the consumer.The consumerdevelops a resistance to the antibiotics contained in the meat products as he consumes more amd more meat over time.More and more germs are developing such resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. The doctors of sick patients discover all too often that the antibiotics do not work . ... Read more

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Shows how the processes of globalization threaten to undermine all three dimensions, and calls for immediate action. ... Read more

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Insighftul
The series of essays included in this very informative volume outline the way we can build a more sustainable, resilient, and vibrant food system in the United States. ... Read more

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This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo. Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements, which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An amazing story that inpsires hope for the world
As a practitioner of sustainable agriculture and organic farming (I am a farmer, teacher and researcher) I found this story of how Cuba used organic farming to beat all odds and overcome a food crisis to be awe inspiring.Every professor, teacher, researcher, analyst, student, thinking farmer and advocate of sustainable agriculture MUST read this book.It will restore your hope.So should everyone interested in Cuba, Latin America, and Third World development.I loved to read it in the cuban's own, well-translated words.

You can skip this one
Cuba has done an amazing job of switching over to organic, local food production. They did so to survive the assinine embargo of thier island, but in doing so they have shown the way for all of us to move to a sane mode of food production.You would want this book to be a delightful description of that process.You would be wrong.It is a leaden, tedious exercise in socialist writing with all the wit and charm of a phone book.Skip the book and just go to Cuba and see the results for yourself.Then come home and plant a garden. ... Read more

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Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Starving people in poor nations, obesity in rich nations, increasing food prices, on-going climate changes, increasing fuel and transportation costs, flaws of the global market, worldwide pesticide pollution, pest adaptation and resistance, loss of soil fertility and organic carbon, soil erosion, decreasing biodiversity, desertification, and so on. Despite unprecedented advances in sciences allowing to visit planets and disclose subatomic particles, serious terrestrial issues about food show clearly that conventional agriculture is not suited any longer to feed humans and to preserve ecosystems. Sustainable agriculture is an alternative for solving fundamental and applied issues related to food production in an ecological way. While conventional agriculture is driven almost solely by productivity and profit, sustainable agriculture integrates biological, chemical, physical, ecological, economic and social sciences in a comprehensive way to develop new farming practices that are safe and do not degrade our environment. In that respect, sustainable agriculture is not a classical and narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. As most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world.

This book gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.

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While the American agricultural and food systems follow a decades-old path of industrialization and globalization, a counter trend has appeared toward localizing some agricultural and food production. Thomas A. Lyson, a scholar-practitioner in the field of community-based food systems, calls this rebirth of locally based agriculture and food production civic agriculture because these activities are tightly linked to a community's social and economic development. Civic agriculture embraces innovative ways to produce, process, and distribute food, and it represents a sustainable alternative to the socially, economically, and environmentally destructive practices associated with conventional large-scale agriculture. Farmers' markets, community gardens, and community-supported agriculture are all forms of civic agriculture.

Lyson describes how, in the course of a hundred years, a small-scale, diversified system of farming became an industrialized system of production and also how this industrialized system has gone global. He argues that farming in the United States was modernized by employing the same techniques and strategies that transformed the manufacturing sector from a system of craft production to one of mass production. Viewing agriculture as just another industrial sector led to transformations in both the production and the processing of food. As small farmers and food processors were forced to expand, merge with larger operations, or go out of business, they became increasingly disconnected from the surrounding communities. Lyson enumerates the shortcomings of the current agriculture and food systems as they relate to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. He then introduces the concept of community problem solving and offers empirical evidence and concrete examples to show that a re-localization of the food production system is underway. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Important and too often ignored
The issues that are addressed by Thomas Lyson in this small volume are important and becoming more so. He describes in adequate detail the progression from subsistance farming of our great grand parents to the industrial farms of today. He goes on to discuss how feeding and clothing the world's growing population in that manner is becoming more and more problematic and shows how the development of community based agriculture provides a path out of that morass.

One need not be an agronomist or agricultural economist to appreciate Professor Lyson's statement of the problem and its possible solution. In fact, the non-technical reader could well perceive this book as a good starting point for participation in this most important discussion. ... Read more

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The Art of Agriculture is the first English edition of Obra de Agricultura by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, an agriculture instruction manual originally written in Granada, Spain, in 1513 and published there in 1539. Herrera, widely considered the Father of Modern Spanish Agriculture, wrote this treatise nearly five centuries ago, thoughtfully recounting traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain, the Spanish colonizers in the early 1600s, and the rural Indo-Hispano bioregion spanning northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

Customer Reviews (1)

Insights into traditional farming techniques of the Moors
It'd be tempting to place this survey under 'Home and Garden' for this review - but really, ANCIENT AGRICULTURE: ROOTS AND APPLICATION OF SUSTAINABLE FARMING deserves so much more. It'll reach an audience of farmers, gardeners, and history buffs with the first English translation of Obra de Agricultura, offering an early agricultural instruction manual originally written in Spain in 1513 - and holding importance for modern times. Here are insights into traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain: techniques which hold surprising relevance to modern farmers facing global warming and water shortages.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch ... Read more

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The Art of Agriculture is the first English edition of Obra de Agricultura by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, an agriculture instruction manual originally written in Granada, Spain, in 1513 and published there in 1539. Herrera, widely considered the Father of Modern Spanish Agriculture, wrote this treatise nearly five centuries ago, thoughtfully recounting traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain, the Spanish colonizers in the early 1600s, and the rural Indo-Hispano bioregion spanning northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

Customer Reviews (1)

Insights into traditional farming techniques of the Moors
It'd be tempting to place this survey under 'Home and Garden' for this review - but really, ANCIENT AGRICULTURE: ROOTS AND APPLICATION OF SUSTAINABLE FARMING deserves so much more. It'll reach an audience of farmers, gardeners, and history buffs with the first English translation of Obra de Agricultura, offering an early agricultural instruction manual originally written in Spain in 1513 - and holding importance for modern times. Here are insights into traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain: techniques which hold surprising relevance to modern farmers facing global warming and water shortages.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch ... Read more

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* Essential collection of the most important literature covering the full scope and depth of agriculture and food production world-wide
* Edited by Jules Pretty, the world’s leading authority on sustainable food and agriculture
* Substantial set overview and volume introductions by the editor provide comprehensive treatment of the major themes, historical and current trends and schools of thought – ideal for researchers
*World-wide coverage including perspectives and key literature from and on Asia, Europe,the Middle East, Africa and North and South America

This four volume set, edited by the world’s leading expert on agricultural sustainability, brings together and interprets the most influential, important and time-tested international scholarship across the fields of agriculture and food production with a set overview and individual volume introductions that make sense of this diverse and complex field.

Volume I covers the history of agriculture from its ancient origins through successive technological and institutional revolutions to the present. Volume II examines the relationship between agriculture and the environment including agricultural contamination, greenhouse gases and climate change, environmental improvements and sustainability, integrated farming, eco-agriculture and agro-ecology, landscape restoration and environmental goods and services. Volume III provides full coverage of the modern industrialized global food system, corporate control, poverty, hunger and international successes, failures and challenges, diet and health, consumer behavior and local alternatives to industrialization. Volume IV addresses how we think about land and our relationship to it, governance and stewardship of the rural commons, systems thinking, ecological literacy, social connections and a sustainable rural life, supportive and perverse agricultural subsidies and policies that shape food poverty and sustain agriculture into the future. ... Read more

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The technological revolution in farming practices has allowed us to clear and cultivate more land, grow plants and animals faster, and kill a greater variety of pests and diseases than ever before. Unfortunately, these efficiencies are proving to be unsustainable in the long term and have created problems such as soil structural decline, erosion, salinity, soil acidification, loss of fertility, nutrient loading of waterways, dams and a build up of chemical residues.

This book is about foreseeing and understanding such problems and addressing them before it is too late. John Mason examines all these problems and explains the concepts and long-term benefits of sustainable farming systems such as permaculture, biodynamics, organic farming, agroforestry, conservation tillage, and integrated hydroculture.

Sustainable Agriculture 2nd Edition also looks at important issues such as monoculture versus polyculture, the use of hybrids, selection criteria for plants and stock, integrated pest management and preparing a farm for droughts and floods. Other areas examined include diversifying into farm tourism and value adding before selling produce. ... Read more

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Sustainable agriculture is not just a goal to be attained; itis an ongoing, dynamic process.Rather than a destination, it is ajourney.

At the present time, the vast majority of the world's agricultureis non-sustainable.If this self-destructive trend is allowed tocontinue, future generations will suffer enormously.This book is aboutreversing that trend, by making world agriculture more sustainable.

On a tangible level, sustainable agriculture means raising food crops andlivestock using systems that maintain and enhance the health of the soiland the environment.Part of a more general commitment to sustainabledevelopment, the goal of sustainable agriculture is to meet the food needsof the present without endangering the Earth's capacity to meet the needsof future generations.But the goals of sustainable agriculture go farbeyond food security, encompassing many ecological, economic, and socialdimensions.The goal is widespread adoption of highly productive farmingand marketing systems that:

* prevent starvation through local food security;
* regenerate soils;
* enhance communities and family farms;
* promote the health of farm workers and consumers;
* protect the environment and biodiversity;

Gradually, governments are realizing the hidden dangers and real costs ofchemical-intensive Green Revolution methods of farming.The public hasbegun to challenge the wisdom of industrialized farming systems thatpromise short-term gains, but yield long-term destruction, deplete andruin natural resources, and threaten the health of both the people andtheir ecosystems.Donors and government officials are turning more oftento non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and innovative farmers in effortsto develop and encourage adoption of more sustainable farming methods. Successful efforts are highlighted, and persistent barriers are explored.

Part 1 includes 13 chapters on topics such as:

* Expanding the vision of sustainable agriculture
* Farmer-centered development
* Overcoming hunger and food insecurity
* Urban agriculture
* Public policies promoting sustainable agriculture
* Community Supported Agriculture
* Dominance bytransnational corporations
* The increasing role of NGOs
* Can organic agriculture feed the world? ... Read more

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In the last 20 years, there has been a remarkable emergence of innovations and technological advances that are generating promising changes and opportunities for sustainable agriculture, yet at the same time the agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges. Not only is the agricultural sector expected to produce adequate food, fiber, and feed, and contribute to biofuels to meet the needs of a rising global population, it is expected to do so under increasingly scarce natural resources and climate change. Growing awareness of the unintended impacts associated with some agricultural production practices has led to heightened societal expectations for improved environmental, community, labor, and animal welfare standards in agriculture.

Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century assesses the scientific evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different production, marketing, and policy approaches for improving and reducing the costs and unintended consequences of agricultural production. It discusses the principles underlying farming systems and practices that could improve the sustainability. It also explores how those lessons learned could be applied to agriculture in different regional and international settings, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. By focusing on a systems approach to improving the sustainability of U.S. agriculture, this book can have a profound impact on the development and implementation of sustainable farming systems. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century serves as a valuable resource for policy makers, farmers, experts in food production and agribusiness, and federal regulatory agencies.
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The 20th century witnessed a massive growth in urban populations. In 1990, one-third of the world's people lived in cities of one million or more. As a result, hunger and malnutrition are on the increase worldwide, as the global food system fails to satisfy the growing demand of the urban consumer.

For Hunger-Proof Cities is the first book to fully examine food security from an urban perspective. It examines existing local food systems and ways to improve the availability and accessibility of food for city dwellers. It looks at methods to improve community-supported agriculture and cooperation between urban and rural populations. It explores what existing marketing and distribution structures can do to improve accessibility and what the emerging forms of food-distribution systems are, and how they can contribute to alleviating hunger in the cities. Finally, the book discusses the underlying structures that create poverty and inequality and examines the role of emergency food systems, such as food banks.A French version will be available in 1999. ... Read more

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This timely work is a collection of papers presented at the XIth international congress of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture & Biotechnology. It continues the tradition of the IAPTC&B in publishing the proceedings of its congresses. The work is an up-to-date report on the most significant advances in plant tissue culture and biotechnology as presented by leading international scientists. It will be crucial reading for agricultural scientists, among others.

Customer Reviews (1)

Review
Good Points:I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to be successful as a farmer in the long run. It is a book you will delve into again and again. It provides motivational material to inspire people to enter the noble profession of farming. It provides multiple viewpoints to explain how plant growth can be positively enhanced. It is controversial - in that it explains why today's farming is flawed and consequently why farmers are going out of business. While the concepts can be complex to understand, the book provides stimulating reference material to guide the willing agricultural professional to transform agriculture into a sustainable and profitable business. I am motivated to put into practice measurement systems advised in relation to crop and soil testing. Also to feed the soil system with the balanced minerals required to improve the quality of crops produced. This in turn transforms the economics of farming for the future.
Bad Points: Some of the science and theory is quite complex to understand. Nevertheless there is a good reference list provided for the earnest reader to fill these gaps. ... Read more

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Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. Sustainable agriculture is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, and social sciences. Indeed, sustainable agriculture decipher mechanisms of processes that occur from the molecular level to the farming system to the global level at time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. For that, scientists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and social issues. In that respect, sustainable agriculture is not a classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. Because most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.