Agri-Culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature

'Refreshingly fluent narrative, brimming full of stories and metaphors' Tim O'Riordan, University of East Anglia, UK 'A great balance between storytelling and analysis which points to the critical need for gaining control over resources' Jacqueline Ashby, CIAT, Colombia 'Full of supporting evidence and clear arguments' Norman Uphoff, Cornell University, US 'A wonderful book, put together with such vision and passion' Mark Ritchie, Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy, US 'A superb volume. This is a valuable monograph that all policy-makers, scholars and farmers must read to understand their roles and responsibilities' Vo-Tong Xuan, Angiang University, Vietnam 'Beautifully written. The implications of the book's ideas are deep and extensive' Julia Guivant, University of Florianopolis, Brazil Something is wrong with our agricultural and food systems. Despite great progress in increasing productivity in recent decades, hundreds of millions of people remain hungry and malnourished, and further millions suffer for eating too much food or the wrong sort. Agri-Culture envisages the expansion of a new form of food production and consumption founded on more ecological principles and in harmony with the cultures, knowledges and collective capacities of the producers themselves. It draws on many stories of successful agricultural transformation in developing and industrialized countries, but with a warning that true prosperity will depend on the radical reform of the institutions and policies that control global food futures, and fundamental changes in the way we think. The time has come for the next agricultural revolution.

The hungry and malnourished masses on the one hand and the overfed and dys-nourished few on the other, along with the environmental degradation that many farming practices produce, makes Pretty (environment and society, U. of Essex) think there are major problems with existing agricultural and food systems. He advocates an emerging approach to agriculture that is based on ecological principles and is in harmony with people and their societies and cultures. Distributed in the US by Stylus. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Something is wrong with our agricultural and food systems. Despite great progress in increasing productivity in the last century, hundreds of millions of people remain hungry and malnourished. Can nothing be done or is it time for the expansion of another sort of agriculture, founded on more ecological principles, and in harmony with people, their societies and cultures?This book draws on many stories of successful transformation. A sustainable agriculture making the best of nature and people's knowledge and collective capacities has been showing increasingly good promise. Everyone is in favor of sustainability, yet few go seriously beyond the fine words. This book shows that there is no alternative to radical reform of national agricultural, rural and food policies, and institutions - the time has come for the next agricultural revolution.

An account of problems afflicting agriculture, food production and our relationship to the land - and how to resolve them. It draws on stories of successful transformation, showing that there is no alternative to radical reform of national agricultural, rural and food policies and institutions.

This work draws on many stories of successful transformation. A sustainable agriculture making the best of nature and people's knowledge and collective capacities has been showing increasingly good promise. Everyone is in favour of sustainability, yet few go seriously beyond the fine words. The text shows that there is no alternative to radical reform of national agricultural, rural and food policies and institutions - the time has come for the next agricultural revolution.