In this remarkable series of lectures, delivered in 1924, Rudolf Steiner first laid down the principles of biodynamic agriculture. Each lecture contains fascinating insights into farming, the plant and animal world, the nature of organic chemistry and the influences of the heavenly bodies. The discussions which followed are also recorded, in which Steiner answered questions and engaged in debate with the audience. This edition comes with full editorial notes and appendices, and includes Steiner’s own handwritten notes to the series.
A comprehensive overview of edible landscapes—complete with more than 300 full-color photos and illustrations
Designing Urban Agriculture is about the intersection of ecology, design, and community. Showcasing projects and designers from around the world who are forging new paths to the sustainable city through urban agriculture landscapes, it creates a dialogue on the ways to invite food back into the city and pave a path to healthier communities and environments.
This full-color guide begins with a foundation of ecological principles and the idea that the food shed is part of a city’s urban systems network. It outlines a design process based on systems thinking and developed for a lifecycle or regenerative-based approach. It also presents strategies, tools, and guidelines that enable informed decisions on planning, designing, budgeting, constructing, maintaining, marketing, and increasing the sustainability of this re-invented cityscape. Case studies demonstrate the environmental, economic, and social value of these landscapes and reveal paths to a greener and healthier urban environment.
This unique and indispensable guide:
Details how to plan, design, fund, construct, and leverage the sustainability aspects of the edible landscape typology
Covers over a dozen typologies including community gardens, urban farms, edible estates, green roofs and vertical walls, edible school yards, seed to table, food landscapes within parks, plazas, streetscapes and green infrastructure systems and more
Explains how to design regenerative edible landscapes that benefit both community and ecology and explores the connections between food, policy, and planning that promote viable food shed systems for more resilient communities
Examines the integration of management, maintenance, and operations issues
Reveals how to create a business model enterprise that addresses a lifecycle approach
Many issues in food and agriculture are portrayed as increasingly polarized. These include industrial vs. sustainable agriculture, conventional vs. organic production methods, and global vs. local food sourcing, to name only three. This book addresses the origins, validity, consequences, and potential resolution of these and other divergences.
Political and legal actions have resulted in significant monetary and psycho-social costs for groups on both sides of these divides. Rhetoric on many issues has caused misinformation and confusion among consumers, who are unsure about the impact of their food choices on nutrition, health, the environment, animal welfare, and hunger. In some cases distrust has intensified to embitterment on both sides of many issues, and even to violence. The book uses economic principles to help readers better understand the divisiveness that prevails in the agricultural production, food processing and food retailing industries.
The authors propose solutions to promote resolution and depolarization between advocates with seemingly irreconcilable differences. A multifaceted, diverse, but targeted approach to food production and consumption is suggested to promote social well-being, and reduce or eliminate misinformation, anxiety, transaction costs and hunger.
THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE: A BIOLOGICAL APPROACH, 4th EDITION integrates biological sciences with modern agricultural concepts. Easy-to-follow and superbly illustrated, this text will develop the reader’s comprehension of Agriscience, as thorough coverage is given to plant and animal systems, soils, cell functions, genetics, genetic engineering, plant and animal reproduction, entomology, the uses of biotechnology, environmental concerns as well as new direction in agriculture and careers. The text also includes an examination of the controversy and concerns over the use of genetic engineering, genetically modified organisms, cloning, and their perceived and potential dangers to humans and the environment. An emphasis is placed on critical thinking, and practical activities to reinforce key information are featured at the end of each chapter. New directions in agriculture and agricultural career choices for the 21st century are also considered.
The failures of “free-market” capitalism are perhaps nowhere more evident than in the production and distribution of food. Although modern human societies have attained unprecedented levels of wealth, a significant amount of the world’s population continues to suffer from hunger or food insecurity on a daily basis. In Agriculture and Food in Crisis, Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar have assembled an exceptional collection of scholars from around the world to explore this frightening long-term trend in food production. While approaching the issue from many angles, the contributors to this volume share a focus on investigating how agricultural production is shaped by a system that is oriented around the creation of profit above all else, with food as nothing but an afterthought.
As the authors make clear, it is technically possible to feed to world’s people, but it is not possible to do so as long as capitalism exists. Toward that end, they examine what can be, and is being, done to create a human-centered and ecologically sound system of food production, from sustainable agriculture and organic farming on a large scale to movements for radical land reform and national food sovereignty. This book will serve as an indispensible guide to the years ahead, in which world politics will no doubt come to be increasingly understood as food politics.
