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Contents:
1 - Agricultural Trends and Realities; 2 - Agriculture and the Environment; 3 - Commodities - coffee, tea, cocoa, orange juice, sugarcane, soybeans, palm oil, bananas, cashews, cotton, wood pulp, rubber, tobacco, wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, cassava, beef, shrimp, salmon.
Review:
Human impact on Earth was made far greater by the arrival of agriculture. Despite early problems (eerily similar to many of those faced today) this new form of food production made numerous advances possible. By the late C20th it was obvious that there were serious environmental issues in global farming and that we could not just accept such problems as a by-product of the necessity of feeding the burgeoning population. At that time there were many studies but most tended to look either at one issue, or one area, or one crop and rarely was there an attempt to produce a more balanced view of the pros and cons on agricultural production. This book is an attempt to redress the balance for a range of key crops in terms of global production.
We start with two chapters which describe the modern production system. The first looks at the growth of the system. In so doing it takes a more pragmatic approach than many texts in this area. Starting with the realities of production (i.e. whole world not just the wealthier areas) the author goes on to look at large-scale production, social and political issues, technology, food production systems and globalisation. The second chapter carries on with the wide-ranging nature of the first but in terms of the environmental aspects of agriculture. Soil, biodiversity loss, water, climate and energy are all topics outlined here with a final one dealing with the potential for sustainable agriculture. Next we come to the commodities section where the 21 commodities are described using a common framework. This framewrok starts with a single page for a map, trade and production statistics, main nations involved, key impacts and aspects which could be improved. From there it moves on to descibe some aspects in more detail. Typical are ones dealing with production and consumption, processing, markets, impacts and areas to improve. A range of references is also given for those who want more detail although this does not, sadly, include web sites.
Overall this is an excellent text. Although it lacks the graphics now expected in books it does have a very clear structure and it provides a clear accessible overview to material that would take a great deal of searching to find in such detail. The range of commodities chosen covers a very wide range and although one could always argue for specific inclusions/exclusions there is a very good set to chose from (perhaps a future edition might increase the range of crops described). Another plus is the idea that it looks at improvement and not just at advancing one system at the expense of another. Thus 'sustainable' practices come under as much scrutiny as 'traditional' ones.