Many issues in food and agriculture are portrayed as increasingly polarized. These include industrial vs. sustainable agriculture, conventional vs. organic production methods, and global vs. local food sourcing, to name only three. This book addresses the origins, validity, consequences, and potential resolution of these and other divergences.

Political and legal actions have resulted in significant monetary and psycho-social costs for groups on both sides of these divides. Rhetoric on many issues has caused misinformation and confusion among consumers, who are unsure about the...

In response to the challenges of a growing population and food security, there is an urgent need to construct a new agri-food sustainability paradigm. This book brings together an integrated range of key social science insights exploring the contributions and interventions necessary to build this framework. Building on over ten years of ESRC funded theoretical and empirical research centered at BRASS, it focuses upon the key social, economic and political drivers for creating a more sustainable food system.

Themes include:

• regulation and governance
...

Using a political-economic approach supplemented with insights from human ecology, this volume analyses the long-term dynamics of food security and economic growth. The book begins by discussing the nature of preindustrial food crises and the changes that have occurred since the nineteenth century with the ascent of technical science and the fossil fuel revolution. It explains how these changes improved living standards, but that the realization of this improvement was usually dependent on government support for smallholder modernization.

The author sets out how the evolution of...

Using a political-economic approach supplemented with insights from human ecology, this volume analyses the long-term dynamics of food security and economic growth. The book begins by discussing the nature of preindustrial food crises and the changes that have occurred since the nineteenth century with the ascent of technical science and the fossil fuel revolution. It explains how these changes improved living standards, but that the realization of this improvement was usually dependent on government support for smallholder modernization.

The author sets out how the evolution of...

Since the financial and food price crises of 2007, market instability has been a topic of major concern to agricultural economists and policy professionals. This volume provides an overview of the key issues surrounding food prices volatility, focusing primarily on drivers, long-term implications of volatility and its impacts on food chains and consumers.

The book explores which factors and drivers are volatility-increasing and which others are price level-increasing, and whether these two distinctive effects can be identified and measured. It considers the extent to which...

Two of the greatest current challenges are climate change (and variability) and food security. Feeding nine billion people by 2050 will require major efforts aimed at climate change adaptation and mitigation. One approach to agriculture has recently been captured by the widely adopted term of "Climate Smart Agriculture" (CSA). This book not only explains what this entails, but also presents practical on-the-ground studies of practices and innovations in agriculture across a broader spectrum, including agroecology and conservation agriculture, in less developed countries.

It is shown...

Contemporary agriculture is often criticized for its industrial scale, adverse effects on nutrition, rural employment and the environment, and its disconnectedness from nature and culture. Yet there are many examples of traditional smaller scale systems that have survived the test of time and provide more sustainable solutions while still maintaining food security in an era of climate change. This book provides a unique compilation of this forgotten agricultural heritage and is based on objective scientific evaluation and evidence of the value of these systems for present and future...

Contemporary agriculture is often criticized for its industrial scale, adverse effects on nutrition, rural employment and the environment, and its disconnectedness from nature and culture. Yet there are many examples of traditional smaller scale systems that have survived the test of time and provide more sustainable solutions while still maintaining food security in an era of climate change. This book provides a unique compilation of this forgotten agricultural heritage and is based on objective scientific evaluation and evidence of the value of these systems for present and future...