Technological Change In Agriculture: Locking in to Genetic Uniformity

by D. Hogg

Overview

Why do modern agricultural techniques, which are environmentally damaging, continue to be used? This path-breaking book seeks the answer to that question in an understanding of evolution of agricultural research in its cultural context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333751398
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/11/2000
Edition description:	2000
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1540L (what's this?)

About the Author

DOMINIC HOGG is currently Senior Consultant with ECOTEC Research and Consulting where he works exclusively on environment policy issues. He was awarded a MacArthur Studentship from the University of Cambridge in 1991, from where he obtained his Ph.D. Following a period in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, he was a consultant for Friends of the Earth, working on the linkages between tropical rainforest destruction and IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programmes. He has campaigned on environmental issues for many years and has been active in many aspects of the use and exploitation of genetic resources.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures Preface List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Genetic Diversity in Agriculture: Its Rise, Fall, and Significance Technological Change in Agriculture: Orthodox Views The Determinants of the Path of Technological Change in Agriculture: An Unorthodox View Beyond Orthodoxy: Locking in to Genetic Uniformity Introduction to Case Studies Hybrid Corn in the United States, 1900-1935 The Road to Mexico's Green Revolution: Maize Research, 1940-1955 Biotechniques and the Neglect of Alternative Agriculture Conclusion Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Seeks to understand why ecologically damaging agricultural techniques are still used and developed, even when viable alternatives are available. Argues that agriculture has evolved because of the way in which we have become "locked in" to the cultivation of crops that are increasingly uniform, and therefore vulnerable. Explains the causes of this process in theoretical terms and through case studies of hybrid maize in the US and the Green Revolution in Mexico, identifying a common theme of exclusion of genetically diverse alternatives. Hogg is a consultant working on environment policy issues. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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