Alternative Agriculture: A History - From the Black Death to the Present Day (Paperback, Revised)

We only imagine that 'alternative agriculture' is a new phenomenon because we are ignorant of our own history. As this fascinating account of British countryside shows, at least three phases of diversification from mainstream farming - the production of cereals and meat - can be documented before the present one: the first lasted from about 1350 to 1500 (into grass to graze sheep), the second from at least 1650 until 1750 (into rapeseed, wood and hops) and the third from 1879 to 1939 (into dairy farming and poultry keeping). (Kirkus UK)

People like to believe in a past golden age of traditional English countryside, before large farms, machinery, and the destruction of hedgerows changed the landscape forever. Yet crops from the past like flax, hemp, and woad, are gradually reappearing in our modern countryside, which may in the past have looked at the same time both more and less familiar than we imagine. Joan Thirsk reveals how the forces which drive our current interest in alternative forms of agriculture -- a glut of mainstream meat and cereal crops, changing eating habits, the needs of medicine -- have striking parallels with earlier periods of our history, emphasizing that we can still find solutions to todays problems in the experience of people from the past.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	March 2000
First published:	April 2000
Authors:	Joan Thirsk (former President)
Dimensions:	234 x 155 x 21mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	384
Edition:	Revised
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-820813-6
Categories:	Books > Professional & Technical > Agriculture & farming > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Primary industries > Agriculture & related industries Books > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history
LSN:	0-19-820813-8
Barcode:	9780198208136

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