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Author Classens, Michael, author.

Title From dismal swamp to smiling farms : food, agriculture, and change in the Holland Marsh / Michael Classens
Published Vancouver ; Toronto : UBC Press, 2021

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Description 1 online resource
Contents The Production of Land, 14,000 BP-1925 -- The Production of Fields, 1925-1935 -- Crops, Markets, and the Production of Stability, 1935-1954 -- Agricultural Modernization, Ecological Contradiction, and the Production of Instability, 1954-1980 -- A Legacy of Contradictions: Crisis and the (Re)production of the Holland Marsh, 1980-Present -- W(h)ither the Marsh?
Summary "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. The social and ecological crises of our industrialized food system are becoming more acute, and questions about where our food comes from and under what conditions have never been more important. At the centre of these questions--and of any efforts to re-localize food systems--is the land. This fascinating case study reveals the contradictions and deficiencies of contemporary farmland preservation paradigms, highlighting the challenges of forging a more socially just and ecologically rational food system."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Issued also in print format
Subject Agriculture -- Ontario -- Holland Marsh -- History
Land use, Rural -- Ontario -- Holland Marsh -- History
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Agriculture & Food Policy (see also SOCIAL SCIENCE / Agriculture & Food) .
Agriculture
Land use, Rural
SUBJECT Holland Marsh (Ont.) -- History
Subject Ontario -- Holland Marsh
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780774865470
0774865474
9780774865487
0774865482