From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms: Food, Agriculture, and Change in the Holland Marsh

Author:   Michael Classens
Publisher:   University of British Columbia Press
ISBN:  

9780774865463


Pages:   236
Publication Date:   07 February 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Our Price $67.25 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms: Food, Agriculture, and Change in the Holland Marsh


Add your own review!

Overview

Driving through the Holland Marsh one is struck immediately by the black richness of its soil. This is some of the most profitable farmland in Canada. But the small agricultural preserve just north of Toronto is a canary in a coal mine. From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms recounts the transformation, use, and protection of the Holland Marsh, exploring how human ideas about nature shape agriculture, while agriculture in turn shapes ideas about nature. Drawing on interviews, media accounts, and archival data, Michael Classens concludes that celebrations of the Marsh as the quintessential example of peri-urban food sustainability and farmland protection have been too hasty. Instead, he demonstrates how capitalism and liberalism have fashioned and ultimately imperilled agriculture in the area. This fascinating case study reveals the contradictions and deficiencies of contemporary farmland preservation paradigms, highlighting the challenges of forging more socially just and ecologically rational food systems.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Classens
Publisher:   University of British Columbia Press
Imprint:   University of British Columbia Press
Weight:   0.360kg
ISBN:  

9780774865463


ISBN 10:   0774865466
Pages:   236
Publication Date:   07 February 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction: Culture's Marsh 1 The Production of Land, 14,000 BC-1925 2 The Production of Fields, 1925-1935 3 Crops, Markets, and the Production of Stability, 1935-1954 4 Agricultural Modernization, Ecological Contradiction, and the Production of Instability, 1954-1990 5 A Legacy of Contradictions: Crisis and the (Re)production of the Holland Marsh, 1980-Present Conclusion: W(h)ither the Marsh? Notes; Selected Bibliography; Index

Reviews

Classens, an expert on social and environmental justice within the food system, draws on firsthand experiences of the Holland Marsh from interview data combined with review of an ample literature to produce this detailed case study. -- M. H. Albro, Clemson University * CHOICE Connect *


"""Classens, an expert on social and environmental justice within the food system, draws on firsthand experiences of the Holland Marsh from interview data combined with review of an ample literature to produce this detailed case study."" -- M. H. Albro, Clemson University * CHOICE Connect *"


Author Information

Michael Classens is an assistant professor in the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto. His work has appeared in Local Environment, the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, the Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Agriculture and Human Values, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, and Society and Natural Resources.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

Aorrng

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List