Best of
Agriculture

2000

Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats: Breeds, Care, Dairying


Jerry Belanger - 2000
    Our Modern Way series of six books has sold more than 1,000,000 copies. In an effort to provide readers with the best how-to animal books on the market we are completely updating all six Modern Way titles and reintroducing them as part of our Guide to Raising series. Written by experts, these guides give novice and experienced livestock farmers all they need to know to successfully keep and profit from animals. Each book includes information on selection, housing, space requirements, breeding and birthing techniques, feeding, behavior, and health concerns and remedies for illness. The books also address the business of raising animals -- processing meat, milk, eggs, and more. The authors were chosen not only for their expertise but also for their ability to explain the ins and outs of animal husbandry in an inviting and authoritative manner.Whether readers are ready to start an entire herd or flock or are considering purchasing their first animal, Storey's Guide to Raising series offers vital information; each book is an indispensable reference.

Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep: Breeds, Care, Facilities


Paula Simmons - 2000
    Drawing from years of hands-on experience, Paula Simmons and Carol Ekarius provide expert advice on breed selection, lambing, feeding, housing, pasture maintenance, and medical care. You’ll also find tips on profitably marketing your meat and fiber products, as well as information on obtaining organic certifications.

Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality


Morris Berman - 2000
    Here, in a remarkable discussion of our hunter-gatherer ancestry and the "paradoxical" mode of perception that it involved, Berman shows how a sense of alertness, or secular/sacred immediacy, subsequently got buried by the rise of sedentary civilization, religion, and vertical power relationships.In an integrated tour de force, Wandering God explores the meaning of Paleolithic art, the origins of social inequality, the nature of cross-cultural child rearing, the relationship between women and agriculture, and the world view of present-day nomadic peoples, as well as the emergence of "paradoxical" consciousness in the philosophical writings of the twentieth century.

Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply


Vandana Shiva - 2000
    She urges us to reclaim our right to protect the earth and her diverse species. Food democracy, she says, is the new agenda for ecological sustainability and social justice.

Once Upon a Farm


Bob Artley - 2000
    Artley, raised on his family farm in Hampton, Iowa, describes the sometimes tedious, sometimes enjoyable, responsibilities of growing up on a farm.

Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape


Jan Albers - 2000
    Albers shows how Vermont has come to stand for the ideal of unspoiled rural community, examining both the basis of the state's pastoral image and the equally real toll taken by the pressure of human hands on the land. She begins with the relatively light touch of Vermont's Native Americans, then shows how European settlers--armed with a conviction that their claim to the land was a God-given right--shaped the landscape both to meet economic needs and to satisfy philosophical beliefs. The often turbulent result: a conflict between practical requirements and romantic ideals that has persisted to this day. Making lively use of contemporary accounts, advertisements, maps, landscape paintings, and vintage photographs, Albers delves into the stories and personalities behind the development of a succession of Vermont landscapes. She observes the growth of communities from tiny settlements to picturesque villages to bustling cities; traces the development of agriculture, forestry, mining, industry, and the influence of burgeoning technology; and proceeds to the growth of environmental consciousness, aided by both private initiative and governmental regulation. She reveals how as community strengthens, so does responsible stewardship of the land. Albers shows that like any landscape, the Vermont landscape reflects the human decisions that have been made about it--and that the more a community understands about how such decisions have been made, the better will be its future decisions.

The Book of Ceremonies: A Native Way of Living and Honoring the Sacred


Gabriel Horn - 2000
    The six parts of the book cover preparation for ceremonies greeting the day; acknowledgment and gratitude; marriage and divorce; birth and death; dreams and visions; and seasons and healing. Highlights include a Zuni creation account, an Aztec love song, and an Omaha prayer presenting a new infant.

Feeding the World


Vaclav Smil - 2000
    He asks whether human ingenuity can produce enough food to support healthy and vigorous lives for all these people without irreparably damaging the integrity of the biosphere.What makes this book different from other books on the world food situation is its consideration of the complete food cycle, from agriculture to post-harvest losses and processing to eating and discarding. Taking a scientific approach, Smil espouses neither the catastrophic view that widespread starvation is imminent nor the cornucopian view that welcomes large population increases as the source of endless human inventiveness. He shows how we can make more effective use of current resources and suggests that if we increase farming efficiency, reduce waste, and transform our diets, future needs may not be as great as we anticipate.Smil's message is that the prospects may not be as bright as we would like, but the outlook is hardly disheartening. Although inaction, late action, or misplaced emphasis may bring future troubles, we have the tools to steer a more efficient course. There are no insurmountable biophysical reasons we cannot feed humanity in the decades to come while easing the burden that modern agriculture puts on the biosphere.

Digger's Diary: Tales From The Allotment


Victor Osborne - 2000
    Based on the popular column in the Weekend section of the Daily Telegraph, this volume provides the lowdown on what really goes on among the ramshackle sheds and improvised cold-frames where the allotment-holding tribe practice their rituals.

Love, Sex and Tractors


Roger Welsch - 2000
    Learn the ins and outs of the Great Tractor Road Trip, Boswell Flick's Dating Guidelines, the magic of tools, the religion of tractors, and the secrets of Women's School. This revealing and fun-filled guide is guaranteed to transform even the most thickheaded variety of the Common Gearheaded Male into a swooning Romeo!

Science and Agriculture


Arden B. Andersen - 2000
    But science points out that low-to-mediocre crop production, weed, disease, and insect pressures are all symptoms of nutritional imbalances and inadequacies in the soil. Science in Agriculture is a concise recap of the main schools of thought that make up eco-agriculture all clearly explained. Gain a working knowledge of chemistry, physics, and plant biology as applied to agriculture. Discover what weeds are trying to tell you about your soil's fertility needs. Learn how to design and implement a program to produce crops, pastures, turf, landscape or ornamentals of balanced nutritional and mineral content. Both farmer and professional consultant will benefit from this important work.

Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production


Vaclav Smil - 2000
    Smil is the world's authority on nitrogenous fertilizer.The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the invention of the airplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television. The expansion of the world's population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today's six billion would not have been possible without the synthesis of ammonia.In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen's unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at various attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilizers. The core of the book is a detailed narrative of the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber--a discovery scientists had sought for over one hundred years--and its commercialization by Carl Bosch and the chemical company BASF. Smil also examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertilizer industry and analyzes the extent of global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process and its biospheric consequences. Finally, it looks at the role of nitrogen in civilization and, in a sad coda, describes the lives of Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch after the discovery of ammonia synthesis.

Hemp Diseases and Pests: Management and Biological Control


J.M. McPartland - 2000
    This book combines a useful review of the hemp pest and disease literature published over the past 50 years, with up-to-date information on modern biological control techniques. Each pest and disease organism is presented in the same format, coveringrange and economic impact, symptoms, life history, diagnosis, and both new and old techniques for biological control and chemical control. Easy to use keys are included for rapid identification of the most common pests. Introductory chapters describe the general principles of plant protection, requirements for healthy plant growth, and taxonomy of parasites and pathogens