The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems With Ecosystems (Paperback)

by Dana L. Jackson (Editor), Laura L. Jackson (Editor), Nina L. Bradley (Foreword) "We should be having our summer board meeting on a farm..." (more)
Key Phrases: agroecological restoration, conservation biocontrol, management intensive rotational grazing, Aldo Leopold, United States, Department of Agriculture (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
oIt is wonderfully well-written, with compelling ideas and stories-about restoration, synergy and integration. In these narratives is a future for farming. It will not be easy, but the thoughts need to be set out before others may follow." --Natural Resources Forum

Product Description

The Farm as Natural Habitat is a vital new contribution to the debate about agriculture and its impacts on the land. Arising from the conviction that the agricultural landscape as a whole could be restored to a healthy diversity, the book challenges the notion that the dominant agricultural landscape - bereft of its original vegetation and wildlife and despoiled by chemical runoff - is inevitable if we are to feed ourselves. Contributors bring together insights and practices from the fields of conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, and environmental restoration to link agriculture and biodiversity, farming and nature, in celebrating a unique alternative to conventional agriculture.

Rejecting the idea that "ecological sacrifice zones" are a necessary part of feeding a hungry world, the book offers compelling examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce not only healthful food, but fully functioning ecosystems and abundant populations of native species. Contributors include Collin Bode, George Boody, Brian DeVore, Arthur (Tex) Hawkins, Buddy Huffaker, Rhonda Janke, Richard Jefferson, Nick Jordan, Cheryl Miller, Heather Robertson, Carol Shennan, Judith Soule, Beth Waterhouse, and others.

The Farm as Natural Habitat is both hopeful and visionary, grounded in real examples, and guided by a commitment to healthy land and thriving communities. It is the first book to offer a viable approach to addressing the challenges of protecting and restoring biodiversity on private agricultural land and is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of land or biodiversity conservation, farming and agriculture, ecological restoration, or the health of rural communities and landscapes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559638478
• ISBN-13: 978-1559638470
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #326,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rejects the idea of "ecological sacrifice zones", June 6, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

The Farm As Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems With Ecosystems edited by Dana L. Jackson (Associate Director of the Land Stewardship Project, White Bear Lake, Minnesota) and Laura L. Jackson (Associate Professor of Biology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa) is a thoughtful, extensively researched and meticulously presented compendium of essays by a variety of learned and expert authors focusing on the interaction between agriculture and the environment. Emphatically rejecting the idea that "ecological sacrifice zones" are required to feed the hungry, The Farm As Natural Habitat reaches out to explore how agriculture and biodiversity can exist in harmony. A first-rate, eye-opening book for farmers around the world, The Farm As Natural Habitat is a strongly urged addition to academic reference collections (especially for agricultural colleges), governmental policy makers and department of natural resources/farm bureau administrative personnel, and the personal reading list for anyone engaged in agriculture ranging from the "family farm" to agribusiness.