Intensive Agriculture and Sustainability

As globalization restructures agriculture and rural communities, theimpacts of increasingly industrialized farming make interdisciplinaryanalyses of the linkages among the social, environmental, and economicaspects of farming ever more vital. This collection analyzes thereasons for the public's scrutiny of intensive agriculture andthe prospects for sustainable farming now that concerns are mountingabout food quality, manure runoff, greenhouse gases, extra-label use ofantibiotics, pesticide use, and rural conflict.

Intensive Agriculture and Sustainability outlines theadvantages of Farming Systems Analysis for understanding theimplications of modern, intensive agriculture. This book describes someof the major environmental and social problems connected with intensivefarming; outlines a framework for analyzing its sustainability;discusses key linkages among the environmental, economic, and socialindicators; outlines modelling trade-offs between profitability andenvironmental sustainability; and then analyzes various farming systemsusing case studies.

The authors conclude that rural conflict and government regulationare likely to continue unless the public joins with farmers to helpfund stewardship practices and stabilize farm incomes. This book willappeal to field practitioners, agricultural and environmental policyanalysts, geographers, and those scholars and students who are tired ofthe pervasive production-oriented disciplinary focus that typifies mostagricultural research.