From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture - Tapa blanda

`There can be few more compellingly presented arguments for a radical and global move to organic agriculture than this. The authors have succeeded in focusing on the key factor behind the mass degradation of our fragile farmlands. They have also clearly demonstrated the existence of a practical ecological alternative.' Sir Julian Rose, organic farmer `Both a deeply disturbing and an inspiring book that combines, for the first time, a comprehensive critique of industrial agriculture with visionary reviews of the potential of the new worldwide movement towards ecological agriculture.' Patrick Holden, Soil Association `A superb overview ... Not only details the cul-de-sac into which industrialized agriculture has taken us, but provides useful insights into ways out of the crisis.' Nicholas Hildyard, The Ecologist `A concise and very readable book covering many of the contradictions of industrial agriculture and linking North/South problems in a very satisfactory way.' Michael Redclift, Wye College, University of London `I have often wanted a short, coherent argument about the nature of industrial agriculture, and an outline of realistic alternatives to it. At last, here is such a book.' Wes Jackson, The Land Institute

Modern industrial agriculture is in crisis. In our obsession with 'efficiency' and short-term profit, we are losing all real connection with the natural world. As a result, the dream of global abundance promised by the introduction of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and hybrid seeds is becoming a nightmare of health risks, degraded land and ailing communities. The way we produce our food is destructive and quite simply unsustainable. From the Ground Up sets the decline of agriculture within the broader context of industrialisation as a whole, and explores some of the fundamental principles which underlie the 'growth-at-any-cost' thinking of modern society. At the same time, it documents the growing public distrust of conventional agricultural practices, and highlights some of the most promising alternatives leading to more sane, environmentally healthy ways of producing food. This book is a valuable reference for those concerned with the future of agriculture - in the industrialised countries as well as in the South, where agricultural development continues to be modelled on the industrial ideal.