The Farm as Natural Habitat is a vital new contribution to the debate about agriculture and its impacts on the land. Arising from the conviction that the agricultural landscape as a whole could be restored to a healthy diversity, the book challenges the notion that the dominant agricultural landscape - bereft of its original vegetation and wildlife and despoiled by chemical runoff - is inevitable if we are to feed ourselves. Contributors bring together insights and practices from the fields of conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, and environmental restoration to link agriculture and biodiversity, farming and nature, in celebrating a unique alternative to conventional agriculture.

Rejecting the idea that "ecological sacrifice zones" are a necessary part of feeding a hungry world, the book offers compelling examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce not only healthful food, but fully functioning ecosystems and abundant populations of native species. Contributors include Collin Bode, George Boody, Brian DeVore, Arthur (Tex) Hawkins, Buddy Huffaker, Rhonda Janke, Richard Jefferson, Nick Jordan, Cheryl Miller, Heather Robertson, Carol Shennan, Judith Soule, Beth Waterhouse, and others.

The Farm as Natural Habitat is both hopeful and visionary, grounded in real examples, and guided by a commitment to healthy land and thriving communities. It is the first book to offer a viable approach to addressing the challenges of protecting and restoring biodiversity on private agricultural land and is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of land or biodiversity conservation, farming and agriculture, ecological restoration, or the health of rural communities and landscapes.

Contributors bring together insights and practices from conservation biology, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, and farming, in support of the idea that the agricultural landscape can be restored to a healthy diversity. They offer examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce healthy food, functioning ecosystems, and populations of native species. Material originated at a June 1998 seminar on agroecological restoration. Dana Jackson is associate director of the Land Stewardship Project in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Laura Jackson teaches biology at the University of Northern Iowa.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Rejecting the idea that "ecological sacrifice zones" are a necessary part of feeding a hungry world, The Farm as Natural Habitat presents compelling examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce not only healthful food, but fully functioning ecosystems and abundant populations of native species. It is the first book to offer a viable approach to addressing the challenges of protecting and restoring biodiversity on private agricultural land and will be essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of land or biodiversity conservation, farming and agriculture, ecological restoration, or the health of rural communities and landscapes.

Laura L. Jackson is associate professor of biology at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Dana L. Jackson is associate director of the Land Stewardship Project in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreward Nina Leopold Bradley

Introduction Laura L. Jackson and Dana L. Jackson

Part I. Agriculture as Ecological Sacrifice

Chapter 1. The Farm as Natural Habitat Dana L. Jackson

Chapter 2. Nature's Backlash Brian A. DeVore

Chapter 3. The Farm, the Nature Preserve, and the Conservation

Biologist Laura L. Jackson

Part II. Restoring Nature on Farms

Chapter 4. Return to Coon Valley Arthur S. (Tex) Hawkins

Chapter 5. Reading the Land Together Wellington (Buddy) Huffaker

Chapter 6. Stewards of the Wild Brian A. DeVore

Why Do They Do It? Brian A. DeVore

Part III. Ecosystem Management and Farmlands

Chapter 9. Nature and Farming in Britian Heather J. Robertson and

Richard G. Jefferson

Chapter 10. Restoring Prairie Processes to Farmlands

Laura L. Jackson

Chapter 11. Sustaining Production with Biodiversity

Nicholas R. Jordan

Chapter 12. Conservation and Agriculture as Neighbors

Judith D. Soule

Chapter 13. Integrating Wetland Habitat with Agriculture

Carol Shennan and Collin A. Bode

Part IV. Steps Toward Agroecological Restoration

Chapter 14. Composing a Landscape Rhonda R. Janke

Chapter 15. After the Deluge: Integrated Watershed Management

in the Red River Valley Cheryl Miller

Chapter 16. A Refined Taste in Natural Objects Beth E. Waterhouse

Chapter 17. Food and Biodiversity Dana L. Jackson

Chapter 18. Agriculture as a Public Good George M. Boody

About the Contributors

Index