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Book Cover
E-book
Author Soule, Judy

Title Farming in Nature's Image An Ecological Approach To Agriculture
Published Chicago : Island Press, 2013

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Description 1 online resource (320 p.)
Contents Intro -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- The Economic Crunch -- Of Ecology and Economics -- Chapter 1 ECOLOGICAL CRISES OF MODERN AGRICULTURE -- Damage and Depletion -- Chemical Contamination -- Chapter 2 ROOTS OF THE CRISES -- Roots of the Crises in Agricultural Industrialization -- Roots of the Crises in Agricultural Science -- Roots of the Crises in Underlying Values -- Shifting Philosophies: The Ecosystem Perspective -- Chapter 3 AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SUSTAINABILITY -- Ecological Insights into Sustainability -- Against the Ecological Grain: Modern Agriculture
Chapter 4 A NEW AGRICULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: THE CASE FOR ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE -- Natural Ecosystems as Models for Sustainable Agriculture -- Blending the Natural into Agricultural Ecosystems -- Nature as a Structural Model for Agriculture -- A System for the North American Granary Modeled on the Prairie -- Chapter 5 THE FEASIBILITY OF A PRAIRIELIKE AGRICULTURE -- Four Basic Questions -- Related Studies -- Descriptions of The Land Institute Study Species -- The Land Institute's Research Results -- The Work Remaining -- Chapter 6 CULTURING SUSTAIN ABILITY -- Some Practical Considerations
Incentives for Change -- Drawing on Forces for Change -- Changes and Challenges for Agricultural Research -- Shifting Values Toward Sustainability -- Notes -- Bibliography -- About the Authors -- Index
Summary Farming in Nature's Image provides, for the first time, a detailed look into the pioneering work of The Land Institute, the leading educational and research organization for sustainable agriculture. The authors draw on case studies, hands-on experience, and research results to explain the applications of a new system of agriculture based on one unifying concept: that farms should mimic the ecosystems in which they exist. They present both theoretical and practical information, including: a review of the environmental degradation resulting from current farming practices a critical evaluation of the attempts to solve these problems a detailed description of the ecosystem perspective and the proposed new agricultural system a case study illustrating how this new system could be applied to temperate grain production using perennial seed crops and the prairie as a model an examination of the potential savings in energy and water use, as well as potential contributions to ecological experiments and yield analysis work from The Land Institute. Written in clear, non-technical language, this book will be of great interest to soil and agricultural scientists, academics, policymakers, environmentalists, and other concerned with finding long-range solutions to agricultural problems
Notes Description based upon print version of record
Subject Agricultural ecology -- United States
Sustainable agriculture -- United States
Agricultural ecology
Sustainable agriculture
United States
Form Electronic book
Author Piper, Jon
Jackson, Wes
ISBN 9781597269049
1597269042