The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems With Ecosystems / Edition 1

by Dana L. Jackson, Laura Jackson, Nina Leopold Bradley

Overview

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

ISBN-13:	9781559638470
Publisher:	Island Press
Publication date:	04/01/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword Nina Leopold Bradley
Introduction Laura L. Jackson and Dana L. Jackson
 
PART I. Agriculture as Ecological Sacrifice
Chapter 1. The Farm as Natural Habitat Dana L. Jackson
Chapter 2. Nature's Backlash Brian A. DeVore
Chapter 3. The Farm, the Nature Preserve, and the Conservation Biologist Laura L. Jackson
 
PART II. Restoring Nature on Farms 
Chapter 4. Return to Coon Valley Arthur S. (Tex) Hawkins
Chapter 5. Reading the Land Together Wellington (Buddy) Huffaker
Chapter 6. Stewards of the Wild Brian A. DeVore
Chapter 8: Why Do They Do It? Brian A. DeVore
 
PART III. Ecosystem Management and Farmlands
Chapter 9. Nature and Farming in Britian Heather J. Robertson and Richard G. Jefferson
Chapter 10. Restoring Prairie Processes to Farmlands Laura L. Jackson
Chapter 11. Sustaining Production with Biodiversity Nicholas R. Jordan
Chapter 12. Conservation and Agriculture as Neighbors Judith D. Soule
Chapter 13. Integrating Wetland Habitat with Agriculture Carol Shennan and Collin A. Bode
 
PART IV. Steps toward Agroecological Restoration
Chapter 14. Composing a Landscape Rhonda R. Janke
Chapter 15. After the Deluge: Integrated Watershed Management in the Red River Valley Cheryl Miller
Chapter 16. A Refined Taste in Natural Objects Beth E. Waterhouse
Chapter 17. Food and Biodiversity Dana L. Jackson
Chapter 18. Agriculture as a Public Good George M. Boody
 
About the Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

"...a book that would make Aldo Leopold proud...a testimonial to Leopold's Land Ethic and those 21st-century farmers, rural landowners, and policy analysts who are applying its tenets of conservation, restoration, and right livelihood."

editor of Ecological Restoration - Dave Egan

Contributors bring together insights and practices from conservation biology, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, and farming, in support of the idea that the agricultural landscape can be restored to a healthy diversity. They offer examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce healthy food, functioning ecosystems, and populations of native species. Material originated at a June 1998 seminar on agroecological restoration. Dana Jackson is associate director of the Land Stewardship Project in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Laura Jackson teaches biology at the University of Northern Iowa. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"...a book that would make Aldo Leopold proud...a testimonial to Leopold's Land Ethic and those 21st-century farmers, rural landowners, and policy analysts who are applying its tenets of conservation, restoration, and right livelihood."

Dave Egan