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OverviewFood's Frontier provides a survey of pioneering agricultural research projects underway in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, India, China, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru by a writer both well-grounded technically and sensitive to social and cultural issues. The book starts from the premise that the ""Green Revolution"" which averted mass starvation a generation ago is not a long-term solution to global food needs and has created its own very serious problems. Based on increasing yields by extensive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and monoculture--agribusiness-style production of single crops--this approach has poisoned both land and farm workers, encouraged new strains of pests that are resistant to ever-increasing amounts of pesticides, and killed the fertility of land by growing single crops rather than rotating crops that can replenish nutrients in the soil. Solutions to these problems are coming from a reexamination of ancient methods of agriculture that have allowed small-scale productivity over many generations. Research in the developing world, based on alternative methods and philosophies, indigenous knowledge, and native crops, joined with cutting edge technology, offer hope for a more lasting solution to the world's increasing food needs. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Richard ManningPublisher: University of California Press Imprint: University of California Press Dimensions: Width: 14.00cm , Height: 0.80cm , Length: 21.00cm Weight: 0.227kg ISBN: 9780520232631ISBN 10: 0520232631 Pages: 238 Publication Date: 29 October 2001 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock  The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsThe Seed The Case for a Second Green Revolution An Island in Africa Global Methods, Local Choices [Ethiopia] How Things Fall Apart When Politics Pushes People Against Nature's Limits [Zimbabwe] To Work in Peace Visionaries in Violent Times (Uganda] From Basket Case to Bread Basket When Biotechnology Has a Brain Trust [India] The Critical Mass The fate of farming in an Industrializing World [Nanjing, China] Genetic Revolution Bioengineering on the Loose [Shanghai, China] Forging a Magic Bullet Technology Based in Biodiversity [Chile and Brazil] In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World Sustaining Traditional Forming and Genetic Resources [Mexico] Roots Restoring Rural Wisdom [Peru] The Genie in the Genome Bioengineering in Context A Common Ground Food, Cities, and the Integrity of Rural Life Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments IndexReviewsManning traveled to developing nations and investigated research projects...from a sweet potato pest study in Uganda to a multi-crop system of farming in Mexico, focused on native crops and applying modern science to traditional wisdom. Input from scientists, civil servants, and farmers yielded innovative interdisciplinary solutions to today's problems. - Dean Neprud, Minneapolis Star-Tribune With the Green Revolution unmasked as chemical overkill, finding a way of feeding the billions in 2020 is one of the biggest challenges we face. Richard Manning has a go at unpicking the complexities of the job in his admirable Food's Frontier. - The New Scientist Food's Frontier sets a new intellectual standard for placing genomics, biotechnology, and food security into the lives of ordinary people. Richard Manning takes the reader on a worldwide tour of agriculture, displaying both its science-rich and resource-poor systems. His volume combines complex scientific principles with a remarkably accessible style. Above all, Manning demonstrates the shortage of human capital in poor countries and the need for much greater support for Third World scientists. - Paul Ehrlich, author of Human Natures Manning hopscotches through Africa, Asia, and South America to provide detailed reports on nine agricultural research projects. The resulting travelogue is thoughtful, provocative, and bursting with complexities and contradictions. - Karen Cook, Voice Literary Supplement Author InformationRichard Manning is an environmental journalist and author. Among his books are Grassland: The History, Biology, Politics and Promise of the American Prairie (1995), A Good House: Building a Life on the Land (1994), and Last Stand: Logging, Journalism, and the Case for Humility (1991). His reporting has received the Audubon Society Journalism Award, the R. J. Margolis award, and three C. B. Blethen awards. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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