In Defense of Farmers
University of Nebraska Press (Verlag)
978-1-4962-0673-2 (ISBN)
Industrial agriculture is generally characterized as either the salvation of a growing, hungry, global population or as socially and environmentally irresponsible. Despite elements of truth in this polarization, it fails to focus on the particular vulnerabilities and potentials of industrial agriculture. Both representations obscure individual farmers, their families, their communities, and the risks they face from unpredictable local, national, and global conditions: fluctuating and often volatile production costs and crop prices; extreme weather exacerbated by climate change; complicated and changing farm policies; new production technologies and practices; water availability; inflation and debt; and rural community decline. Yet the future of industrial agriculture depends fundamentally on farmers’ decisions.
In Defense of Farmers illuminates anew the critical role that farmers play in the future of agriculture and examines the social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities of industrial agriculture, as well as its adaptations and evolution. Contextualizing the conversations about agriculture and rural societies within the disciplines of sociology, geography, economics, and anthropology, this volume addresses specific challenges farmers face in four countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
By concentrating on countries with the most sophisticated production technologies capable of producing the largest quantities of grains, soybeans, and animal proteins in the world, this volume focuses attention on the farmers whose labors, decision-making, and risk-taking throw into relief the implications and limitations of our global industrial food system. The case studies here acknowledge the agency of farmers and offer ways forward in the direction of sustainable agriculture.
Jane W. Gibson is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas. Sara E. Alexander is a professor of anthropology at Baylor University. John K. Hansen is president of the Nebraska Farmers Union and chairman of the Legislative Committee for the National Farmers Union. He serves on the National Farmers Union Executive Committee.
List of Illustrations
Foreword
John K. Hansen
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Food System Imperiled
Jane W. Gibson
Chapter 1: Power, Food and Agriculture: Implications for Farmers, Consumers and Communities
Mary K. Hendrickson, Philip H. Howard, and Douglas H. Constance
Chapter 2: Chickenizing American Farmers, or ""Sometimes I Feel Like a Galley Slave""
Donald D. Stull
Chapter 3: Industrial Chicken Meat and the Good Life in Bolivia
Sarah Kollnig
Chapter 4: Automating Agriculture: Precision Technologies, Agbots, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Jane W. Gibson
Chapter 5: Water to Wine: Industrial Agriculure and Groundwater Regulation in California
Casey Walsh
Chapter 6: ""Can I `stay steady' and `farm smart'?"" The Challenges of Climate Change for West Texas Wheat Farmers
Sara E. Alexander
Chapter 7: From Partner to Consumer: The Changing Role of Farmers in the Public Agricultural Research Process on the Canadian Prairies
Katherine Strand
Chapter 8: Encounter with the Brazil Model of Industrial Soy Farming
Andrew Ofstehage
Chapter 9: The Price of Success: Population Decline and Community Transformation in Western Kansas
Jane W. Gibson and Benjamin J. Gray
Chapter 10: An Alternative Future for Food and Farming
John Ikerd
List of Contributors
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 02.06.2019 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Our Sustainable Future |
| Vorwort | John K. Hansen |
| Zusatzinfo | 16 photographs, 4 maps, 7 tables, 3 graphs, index |
| Verlagsort | Lincoln |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz |
| Technik ► Bergbau | |
| Weitere Fachgebiete ► Land- / Forstwirtschaft / Fischerei | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-4962-0673-8 / 1496206738 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-4962-0673-2 / 9781496206732 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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