Five centuries of farming

Five centuries of farming PDF Author: Jan Bieleman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 908686693X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Where the lower reaches of the rivers Rijn, Maas and Schelde have passed through the Northwest-European plain to finally flow out into the North Sea, a unique country of towns had come about during the Late Middle Ages. Since then, due to its natural and central location, this country, the Netherlands, has turned into a true crossroads of European trade connections between east and west, north and south. A highly urbanised country emerged and as the urban economies prospered they have had a great impact on the surrounding countryside. This in turn has affected the rural communities and has stimulated all kinds of agrarian activities. Highly productive agribusiness complexes have been the result. Today experts rank Dutch agriculture and horticulture as one of the most productive in the world. Milk production per cow and arable farming and horticulture, productivity per man-hour is amongst the highest known. This book is meant to give an overview of the historical processes of five centuries of farming and it makes clear that the old farming society was only seemingly static. This account of Dutch agricultural history demonstrates how Dutch farmers and horticulturist have always been keen on resetting their aims when the ever changing economic environment induced them to do so.

Five centuries of farming

Five centuries of farming PDF Author: Jan Bieleman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 908686693X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Get Book Here

Book Description
Where the lower reaches of the rivers Rijn, Maas and Schelde have passed through the Northwest-European plain to finally flow out into the North Sea, a unique country of towns had come about during the Late Middle Ages. Since then, due to its natural and central location, this country, the Netherlands, has turned into a true crossroads of European trade connections between east and west, north and south. A highly urbanised country emerged and as the urban economies prospered they have had a great impact on the surrounding countryside. This in turn has affected the rural communities and has stimulated all kinds of agrarian activities. Highly productive agribusiness complexes have been the result. Today experts rank Dutch agriculture and horticulture as one of the most productive in the world. Milk production per cow and arable farming and horticulture, productivity per man-hour is amongst the highest known. This book is meant to give an overview of the historical processes of five centuries of farming and it makes clear that the old farming society was only seemingly static. This account of Dutch agricultural history demonstrates how Dutch farmers and horticulturist have always been keen on resetting their aims when the ever changing economic environment induced them to do so.

Farmers of Forty Centuries or Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea and Japan

Farmers of Forty Centuries or Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea and Japan PDF Author: F. H. King
Publisher: Global Oriental
ISBN: 9004217908
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
First published in 1926, this classic survey, which includes nearly 250 photographs, examines the traditional farming methods of the densely populated lands of China, Korea and Japan and shows how fertility can be maintained over many centuries through conserving and utilizing natural resources. In the Introduction, the author notes: ‘The United States as yet a nation of but few people widely scattered over a broad virgin land with more than twenty acres to the support of every man, woman and child, while the people whose practices are to be considered are toiling in fields tilled more than three thousand years and who have scarcely more than two acres per capita, more than one-half of which is uncultivable land.’ Researchers and scholars in the fields of human geography, regional studies and earth sciences, as well as social and economic history will welcome this landmark study being returned to print.

Ancient Agriculture

Ancient Agriculture PDF Author: Gabriel Alonso de Herrera
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
ISBN: 9781423601203
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
The Art of Agriculture is the first English edition of Obra de Agricultura by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, an agriculture instruction manual originally written in Granada, Spain, in 1513 and published there in 1539. Herrera, widely considered the Father of Modern Spanish Agriculture, wrote this treatise nearly five centuries ago, thoughtfully recounting traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain, the Spanish colonizers in the early 1600s, and the rural Indo-Hispano bioregion spanning northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Today, farmers, gardeners, and ecological horticulturists are striving to work in harmony with nature, using traditional irrigation methods (involving acequias, sangras, and arroyos) to transform barren high-desert landscapes into fields supporting crop growth. This book speaks to today's farmers, no matter their size or output, in drought-ridden areas with land patterns characterized by natural ditches (acequias) and community water distribution systems (suertes). This type of agriculture exists not only in the American Southwest but from the Philippines to India to the Middle East. With global warming, water usage, and increased populations today, this book is more pertinent now than ever. Practical as well as philosophical, The Art of Agriculture will fascinate anyone interested in organic farming, sustainable agriculture, and permaculture worldwide.

A Long, Deep Furrow

A Long, Deep Furrow PDF Author: Howard S. Russell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
A highly readable history and almost encyclopedic reference work, with information on every pertinent aspect of farming and country life.

Agricultural Revolution in England

Agricultural Revolution in England PDF Author: Mark Overton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521568593
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
This book is the first available survey of English agriculture between 1500 and 1850. It combines new evidence with recent findings from the specialist literature, to argue that the agricultural revolution took place in the century after 1750. Taking a broad view of agrarian change, the author begins with a description of sixteenth-century farming and an analysis of its regional structure. He then argues that the agricultural revolution consisted of two related transformations. The first was a transformation in output and productivity brought about by a complex set of changes in farming practice. The second was a transformation of the agrarian economy and society, including a series of related developments in marketing, landholding, field systems, property rights, enclosure and social relations. Written specifically for students, this book will be invaluable to anyone studying English economic and social history, or the history of agriculture.

Bet the Farm

Bet the Farm PDF Author: Beth Hoffman
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 164283159X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
"Eloquent and detailed...precise and well-thought-out...Read her book -- and listen." -- Jane Smiley, The Washington Post. In her late 40s, Beth Hoffman decided to upend her comfortable life as a professor and journalist to move to her husband's family ranch in Iowa--all for the dream of becoming a farmer. There was just one problem: money. Half of America's two million farms made less than $300 in 2019, and many struggle just to stay afloat. Bet the Farm chronicles this struggle through Beth's eyes. She must contend with her father-in-law, who is reluctant to hand over control of the land. Growing oats is good for the environment but ends up being very bad for the wallet. And finding somewhere, in the midst of COVID-19, to slaughter grass finished beef is a nightmare. If Beth can't make it, how can farmers who confront racism, lack access to land, or don't have other jobs to fall back on hack it? Bet the Farm is a first-hand account of the perils of farming today and a personal exploration of more just and sustainable ways of producing food.

Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming

Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming PDF Author: Debby Banham
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191667315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Farming was the basis of the wealth that made England worth invading, twice, in the eleventh century, while trade and manufacturing were insignificant by modern standards. In Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming, the authors employ a wide range of evidence to investigate how Anglo-Saxon farmers produced the food and other agricultural products that sustained English economy, society, and culture before the Norman Conquest. The first part of the volume draws on written and pictorial sources, archaeology, place-names, and the history of the English language to discover what crops and livestock people raised, and what tools and techniques were used to produce them. In part two, using a series of landscape studies - place-names, maps, and the landscape itself, the authors explore how these techniques might have been combined into working agricultural regimes in different parts of the country. A picture emerges of an agriculture that changed from an essentially prehistoric state in the sub-Roman period to what was recognisably the beginning of a tradition that only ended with the Second World War. Anglo-Saxon farming was not only sustainable, but infinitely adaptable to different soils and geology, and to a climate changing as unpredictably as it is today.

Agriculture in World History

Agriculture in World History PDF Author: Mark B. Tauger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136941606
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Civilization from its origins has depended on the food, fibre, and other commodities produced by farmers. In this unique exploration of the world history of agriculture, Mark B. Tauger looks at farmers, farming, and their relationships to non-farmers from the classical societies of the Mediterranean and China through to the twenty-first century. Viewing farmers as the most important human interface between civilization and the natural world, Agriculture in World History examines the ways that urban societies have both exploited and supported farmers, and together have endured the environmental changes and crises that threatened food production. Accessibly written and following a chronological structure, Agriculture in World History illuminates these topics through studies of farmers in numerous countries all over the world from Antiquity to the contemporary period. Key themes addressed include the impact of global warming, the role of political and social transformations, and the development of agricultural technology. In particular, the book highlights the complexities of recent decades: increased food production, declining numbers of farmers, and environmental, economic, and political challenges to increasing food production against the demands of a growing population. This wide-ranging survey will be an indispensable text for students of world history, and for anyone interested in the historical development of the present agricultural and food crises.

Proceedings

Proceedings PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description


Agricultural Enlightenment

Agricultural Enlightenment PDF Author: Peter Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198716079
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Agricultural Enlightenment explores the modernization of the rural economy in Europe through the lens of the Enlightenment. It focuses on the second half of the eighteenth century and emphasizes the role of useful knowledge in the process of agrarian change and agricultural development. As such it invites economic historians to respond to the challenge issued by Joel Mokyr to look beyond quantitative data and to take seriously the argument that cultural factors, broadly understood, may have aided or hindered the evolution of agriculture in the early modern period ("what people knew and believed" had a direct bearing on their economic behavior Mokyr, The Enlightened Economy]). Evidence in support of the idea that a readily accessible supply of agricultural knowledge helps to explain the trajectory of the rural economy is drawn from all of the countries of Europe. The book includes two cases studies of rapid rural modernization in Scotland and Denmark where Agricultural Enlightenment was swiftly followed by full-scale Agricultural Revolution.