Book Description
This book contains a selection of the papers presented at the Joint Conference on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, organized by the University of Minnesota and several universities in Italy, and held in Bologna, Italy, on June 12-14, 2001. The papers are grouped into four sections: a) food, nutrition, and quality, b) land and resource assessment, c) agriculture and rural development, and d) environment and markets. Readers will benefit from the analysis provided in the papers and will gain new insights concerning alternative approaches to dealing with important policy issues. ... Read more

Book Description

U.S. agriculture is the envy of the world. Although output from U.S. farms is high, there is a growing gap between what is being produced and what could be produced, partly because innovation and production are constrained by a growing maze of environmental regulations.The chapters, authored by leading experts in their fields, focus on the major environmental constraints that limit U.S. food production without necessarily improving environmental quality. Each paper documents a specific issue, discusses the regulatory response, and offers ideas for reform.

Book Description

"McCook writes in a clear and effective style.His approach to the subject is neither overly theoretical nor oversimplified."

—Bulletin of the Pacific Circle

The process of nation-building in Latin America transformed the relations between the state, the economy, and nature. Between 1760 and 1940, the economies of most countries in the Spanish Caribbean came to depend heavily on the export of plant products, such as coffee, tobacco, and sugar. After the mid-nineteenth century, this model of export-led economic growth also became a central tenet of liberal projects of nation-building. As international competition grew and commodity prices fell over this period, Latin American growers strove to remain competitive by increasing agricultural production. By the turn of the twentieth century, their pursuit of export-led growth had generated severe environmental problems, including soil exhaustion, erosion, and epidemic outbreaks of crop diseases and pests.

Book Description

In large parts of the developed and developing worlds soil tillage by plough or hoe is the main cause of land degradation leading to stagnating or even declining production levels and increasing production cost. It causes the soil to become more dense and compacted, the organic matter content to be reduced and water runoff and soil erosion to increase. It also leads to droughts becoming more severe and the soil becoming less fertile and less responsive to fertiliser.

Customer Reviews (1)

This book changed my life!
This has to be the best book ever written. It is just soooo full of emotion. Like when Maddy, the little girl with spaz attacks, got out of her wheelchair and walked... I sobbed like a little be-otch.I also love the way the author compares water management to the historic fight for equal rights for inbred hillbilly amputees.And the way he uses Fargo as a metaphore for the universal quest for spiritual truth, blending traditional Christian principles with Eastern religious archetypes is simply Salingeresque in nature. This book is food for the soul! You will never look at Irrigated Agriculture the same way again... ... Read more