Description
Book SynopsisSmall farmers are often viewed as engaging in wasteful practices that wreak ecological havoc. This text aims to set the record straight, using case studies from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific, the book offers an analysis of agricultural diversity and explores its history.
Trade ReviewBrookfield brings together a rich collection of evidence... and elegantly outlines the importance of agrodiversity. Nature Brookfield has again broken the mould with this extrememly valuable and detailed introduction to, and exposition of, his latest interest and speciality-the agrodiversity of small farmers... An excellent treatment of small farmer management strategies. Land Degradation and Development A valuable contribution...provides many interesting examples that question well established and widely disseminated hypotheses. Basic and Applied Ecology Harold Brookfield has written a book well worth the read... Few scholars are as well positioned as Brookfield to write about dynamic diversity in traditional agricultural systems centered on the farmer and the farm. Conservation Ecology Brookfield has emphasized the extremes of agriculturally managed landscapes in the small-farming regions of developing countries... [T]he volume is an excellent resource for scholars and policymakers, as well as a major contribution to the field of agrodiversity. -- Shivaji Prasad The Professional Geographer [T]his is an interesting book and would be a worthwhile addition to any personal or academic library just for a range of case studies alone... There is a fascinating range of examples of variations on the themes of human adaptability and landscape change. -- Christopher Young Landscape Ecology
Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I. Presenting Agrodiversity 1. Presenting Diversity by Example: Mintima and Bayninan 2. Diversity, Stress, and Opportunity Part II. Diversity Within Rotational Land Systems 3. Defining, Describing, and Writing About Agrodiversity Part III. Paths of Transformation 4. Learning About the History of Agrodiversity Part IV. The Future of Agrodiversity 5. Understanding Soils and Soil--Plant Dynamics 6. Analyzing Shifting Cultivation 7. Alternative Ways to Farm Parsimonious Soils 8. Managing Plants in the Fallow and the Forest 9. Coping with Problems: Degraded Land, Slope Dynamics, and Flood 10. Who Has Driven Agricultural Change? 11. Farmer-Driven Transformation in Modern Times 12. The Green Revolution 13. Recent Trends in Agriculture 14. Science, Farmers, and Politics Epilogue: Looking at the Future References
