Sustainability in Agricultural and Rural Development

In a world where growth and development often come at the expense of resource degradation, it is important to understand the nature of this degradation and explore possible solutions. The preferred approach to development is one that is sustainable. However, the path to sustainable development is neither obvious nor simple; for one thing, sustainability has many interrelated components. This book examines the links between sustainability and various other topics, in the process exploring and integrating many of the components. Thus, the purpose is to provide a broad but in-depth discussion of the issues, concepts, methods of analysis and empirical results related to the sustainable development of agriculture and rural communities. The book is comprised of 12 chapters contributed by authors from a variety of disciplines, with sustainability as the common link. The perspective is either national (the USA), or international, but global implications can be drawn. Each chapter addresses one or more of the following components of sustainability: economic; social or demographic; community; environmental; and human health.
Specific chapters explore the links between sustainability and related topics such as industrialization, farm size, role of markets versus government regulation, production technology, community, gender, population growth, economics, public policy, land use and information. The final chapter is devoted to synthesizing some of the issues in the context of identifying areas for, and challenges of future research in the area. The approach of the book is to present the evidence, (using a combination of case studies, examples, sample and literature surveys and observation) and then interpret it in the light of individual understanding and experience.