The Conversion to Sustainable Agriculture Principles, Processes, and Practices

BASIC PRINCIPLES

The Framework for Conversion
Stephen R. Gliessman

What Do We Know about the Conversion Process? Yields, Economics, Ecological Processes, and Social Issues
Martha E. Rosemeyer

The History of Organic Agriculture
Rachael J. Jamison and John H. Perkins

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Northern Midwest (U.S.): Farmers’ Views of the Conversion Process
Paul Porter, Lori Scott, and Steve Simmons

Pacific Northwest (U.S.): Diverse Movements toward Sustainability Amid a Variety of Challenges
Carol Miles, David Granatstein, David Huggins, Steve Jones, and James Myers

California (U.S.): The Conversion of Strawberry Production
Stephen R. Gliessman and Joji Muramoto

Ontario, Canada: Lessons in Sustainability from Organic Farmers
E. Ann Clark and Jennifer Sumner

Mexico: Perspectives on Organic Production
María del Rocío Romero Lima

Mexico: Traditional Agriculture as a Foundation for Sustainability
Alba González Jácome

Cuba: A National-Level Experiment in Conversion
Fernando R. Funes-Monzote

The European Union: Key Roles for Institutional Support and Economic Factors
Gloria I. Guzmán and Antonio M. Alonso

Japan: Finding Opportunities in the Current Crisis
Joji Muramoto, Kazumasa Hidaka, and Takuya Mineta

The Middle East: Adapting Food Production to Local Biophysical Realities
Alireza Koocheki

Australia: Farmers Responding to the Need for Conversion
David Dumaresq and Saan Ecker

THE WAY FORWARD

Transforming the Global Food System
Stephen R. Gliessman

Biography

Stephen R. Gliessman, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

Martha Rosemeyer, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, USA

Framed by an awareness of the long-term destructiveness of established food system trends, it remains a hopeful book, with a focus on emerging alternatives. Twenty-five contributors present broad overviews and critical case studies of burgeoning sustainable agriculture movements on five continents, but North America gets the most attention, with excellent chapters on Cuba; Mexico; Ontario, Canada; and three regions of the US. The fascinating history of organic agriculture is presented as a case of a socio-environmental movement that risks diverging from sustainability as it grows and industrializes. Nonetheless, "organic" serves as a convenient proxy for "sustainable" through much of the book. This is a readable and information-packed volume, accessible to undergraduate students but rewarding to advanced students and sustainable agriculture professionals. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections.
–M. K. Bamford, Kentucky State University. CHOICE. JULY 2010, VOL 47, No 11

Refreshingly, the book acknowledges the difficulties of both researching and putting into practice changes at the whole system level as opposed to alterations in individual farming practices. Of particular value is the discussion of what motivates practitioners to alter their agricultural systems; this goes beyond the usual discussion of finance and markets to address issues such as family values and community development. ...This book will interest students and practitioners of organic agriculture but will also be of value to a much wider community concerned with reducing the dependence of agriculture on fossil fuels and the challenges of reconnecting agriculture and consumers.
--Christine A. Watson, The Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 2010.