Comparative Farming Systems - Tapa dura

"FARMING SYSTEMS is an excellent collection of original case studies, which takes a holistic approach to farming systems by integrating environmental, technological, socioeconomic, and political characteristics. Turner and Brush provide a theoretical overview of farming systems and how they change, based on the case studies and the general literature. Their unifying framework makes possible comparisons between diverse systems ranging from traditional (paleotechnic) to modern (neotechnic) in various parts of the world. The result is a volume that will be valuable to both social scientists and agricultural scientists interested in the dynamics of farming systems." --William M. Denevan, Ph.D. Carl Ortwin Sauer Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Through a series of 12 original case studies, prepared by 19 international, multidisciplinary experts, Farming Systems offers a comprehensive comparative examination of world agriculture. The 12 farming systems explored here encompass the broad array of environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic conditions in which agriculture exists--from Amazonian swidden to Hungarian cooperative farms. B.L. Turner II and Stephen B. Brush have provided a three-part classification of the systems based on output intensity, technology employed, and production goals. The contributors bring to their case studies the perspectives of anthropology, economics, geography, and rural sociology.