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Plowed Under: Agriculture and Environment in the Palouse
In Plowed Under, Andrew P. Duffin traces the transformation of the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho from land thought unusable and unproductive to a wealth-generating agricultural paradise, weighing the consequences of what this progress has wrought. During the twentieth century, the Palouse became synonymous with wheat, and the landscape was irrevocably altered. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, native vegetation is almost nonexistent, stream water is so dirty that it is often unfit for even livestock, and 94 percent of all land has been converted to agriculture.
Commercial agriculture also created a less noticeable ecological change: soil erosion. While common to industrial agriculture nationwide, topsoil loss evoked different political and social reactions in the Palouse. Farmers all over the nation take pride in their freedom and independence, but in the Palouse, Duffin shows, this mentality - a remnant of an older agrarian past - has been taken to the extreme and is partly responsible for erosion problems that are among the worst in the nation.
In the hope of charting a better, more sustainable future, Duffin argues for a candid look at the land, its people, their decisions, and the repercussions of those decisions. As he notes, the debate is not over whether to use the land, but over what that use will look like and its social and ecological results.
1113747958
Plowed Under: Agriculture and Environment in the Palouse
In Plowed Under, Andrew P. Duffin traces the transformation of the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho from land thought unusable and unproductive to a wealth-generating agricultural paradise, weighing the consequences of what this progress has wrought. During the twentieth century, the Palouse became synonymous with wheat, and the landscape was irrevocably altered. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, native vegetation is almost nonexistent, stream water is so dirty that it is often unfit for even livestock, and 94 percent of all land has been converted to agriculture.
Commercial agriculture also created a less noticeable ecological change: soil erosion. While common to industrial agriculture nationwide, topsoil loss evoked different political and social reactions in the Palouse. Farmers all over the nation take pride in their freedom and independence, but in the Palouse, Duffin shows, this mentality - a remnant of an older agrarian past - has been taken to the extreme and is partly responsible for erosion problems that are among the worst in the nation.
In the hope of charting a better, more sustainable future, Duffin argues for a candid look at the land, its people, their decisions, and the repercussions of those decisions. As he notes, the debate is not over whether to use the land, but over what that use will look like and its social and ecological results.
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Plowed Under: Agriculture and Environment in the Palouse
In Plowed Under, Andrew P. Duffin traces the transformation of the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho from land thought unusable and unproductive to a wealth-generating agricultural paradise, weighing the consequences of what this progress has wrought. During the twentieth century, the Palouse became synonymous with wheat, and the landscape was irrevocably altered. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, native vegetation is almost nonexistent, stream water is so dirty that it is often unfit for even livestock, and 94 percent of all land has been converted to agriculture.
Commercial agriculture also created a less noticeable ecological change: soil erosion. While common to industrial agriculture nationwide, topsoil loss evoked different political and social reactions in the Palouse. Farmers all over the nation take pride in their freedom and independence, but in the Palouse, Duffin shows, this mentality - a remnant of an older agrarian past - has been taken to the extreme and is partly responsible for erosion problems that are among the worst in the nation.
In the hope of charting a better, more sustainable future, Duffin argues for a candid look at the land, its people, their decisions, and the repercussions of those decisions. As he notes, the debate is not over whether to use the land, but over what that use will look like and its social and ecological results.
Andrew P. Duffin is assistant professor of history at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.
Table of Contents
Foreword: The Wind's Gift of Wheat by William Cronon
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: A Place Called the Palouse
2. The Precontact Palouse
3. From Bunchgrass Backwater to Agricultural Empire
4. The Implications of Prosperity
5. Lessons Learned and Unlearned
6. Better Farming through Chemistry
7. Lessons Neglected and Rejected
8. A Glimmer of Hope?
Eplilogue
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
What People are Saying About This
Paul Hirt
"Duffin convincingly illuminates the economic, political, and cultural forces driving Palouse farmers down a destructive path even when the evidence clearly indicated that a course change was needed. His story offers lessons for every significant environmental challenge we face, from soil erosion all the way to global warming. If we wish to achieve the vaunted goal of sustainability we must understand the complex forces that drive unsustainable behavior."
Carlos Schwantes
"The Palouse country is incredibly beautiful. How the precious soil of this region has been used and much abused offers insight into the politics of conservation, not just on a state or regional level but on a national level as well."
William Cronon
"If our goal is to imagine where food will come from for the grandchildren of our grandchildren, then the paradoxical mix of private rights and public subsidies that have supported erosive soil practices on Palouse farms seems especially instructive. For just this reason, Plowed Under deserves to be read even by those who have never visited the curious hill country lying north of the Snake River in eastern Washington and western Idaho."
