Customer Reviews

Meeting the Expectations of the Land: Essays in Sustainable Agriculture and Stewardship

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Although some of the facts and figures on soil loss, or balance of economics and energy use may be out of date, the premises that soil, watershed, aquifer, and community should be sustainable, remain valid. This book supports traditional farming, and, at times, has a heavy-handed attack on agribusiness and its usage of soil, petroleum, and mined water.

Some of the most interesting essays included Wendell Berry discussing the mind of the farmer in "Whose head is the Farmer Using", that is "A farm as a human artifact inseparable from the mind that makes and uses it". Gary Snyder's in "Good, Wild, Sacred", looks at what sacred land might be with stories of Australian Aboriginal and Japan's native Ainu. Finally, Wes Jackson discusses Perennial Polyculture (as opposed to annual monoculture, e.g., wheat), which is work that he continues at the Land Institute of Kansas.