Food S Frontier: The Next Green RevolutionFood's Frontier provides a survey of pioneering agricultural research projects underway in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, India, China, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru by a writer both well-grounded technically and sensitive to social and cultural issues. The book starts from the premise that the "Green Revolution" which averted mass starvation a generation ago is not a long-term solution to global food needs and has created its own very serious problems. Based on increasing yields by extensive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and monoculture--agribusiness-style production of single crops--this approach has poisoned both land and farm workers, encouraged new strains of pests that are resistant to ever-increasing amounts of pesticides, and killed the fertility of land by growing single crops rather than rotating crops that can replenish nutrients in the soil. Solutions to these problems are coming from a reexamination of ancient methods of agriculture that have allowed small-scale productivity over many generations. Research in the developing world, based on alternative methods and philosophies, indigenous knowledge, and native crops, joined with cutting edge technology, offer hope for a more lasting solution to the world's increasing food needs. |
Contents
The Seed | 3 |
An Island in Africa | 22 |
How Things Fall Apart | 40 |
To Work in Peace | 60 |
From Basket Case to Bread Basket | 79 |
The Critical Mass | 95 |
Bioengineering on the Loose | 111 |
Forging a Magic Bullet | 128 |
In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World | 149 |
Roots | 173 |
The Genie in the Genome | 191 |
A Common Ground | 208 |
| 219 | |
| 227 | |
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acres agriculture American archaea beans borer breeding cereal Chalco chemical chickpeas Chile China Chinese complex corn country's crop crosses culture Debre Zeit developing world disease Duvick Ethiopia farm farmers feed fertilizer field food security genes genetic engineering genome Goodman grain grass Green Revolution grow harvest hectare hopper human husks Incas India injera insecticide insects Kalazich La Serena land look maize markets McKnight Mexico million milpa milpa project Mwanga Nanjing percent Peru pesticides pests plant breeder poor population problem produce protein quelites region resistance rest result rice says scab scientists seed Shanghai simply soil sorghum sort species squash subsistence sweet potatoes symbionts tannin Tefera tells teosinte test plots tion transgenics traps trees trichomes trick tubers Uganda United University Valley varieties village virus weevils wheat wild Wolbachia yield Zimbabwe