AGRICULTURE RESEARCH ALTERNATIVES
William Lockeretz and Molly D. Anderson
Volume 3 in the Series: Our Sustainable Future
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln and London
Copyright 1993
"...Research is a vital factor contributing to the creation of a
sustainable agriculture. Entrenched ideas about the way
agricultural research is conducted have been challenged by
farmers, environmentalists, food-safety advocates, rural
activists, and others."
(From the Jacket)
"[The ideals of alternative agriculture] suggest several
approaches to improving agricultural research..."
1. "More research should be multidisciplinary"
2. "Research should be grounded in ecological principles"
3. "Information and farmers' understanding are critical
production inputs"
4. "More research should be done on working farms"
5. "Farmers should have a greater influence over agricultural
research"
"[AGRICULTURE RESEARCH ALTERNATIVES] analyzes these ideas, for
both agricultural research in general and alternative agriculture
in particular. Although the ideas seem very promising, sometimes
they are turned into oversimplified prescriptions that do not do
justice to their complexities. We will try to disentangle some
of these complexities..."
(Lockeretz and Anderson, pp 13-16)