Alternative Agriculture A History From the Black Death to the Present Day [Paperback]

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, rapeseed, and woad are gradually reappearing in the modern countryside. Thirsk reveals how the forces which drive the current interest in alternative forms of agriculture--a glut of mainstream meat and cereal crops, changing patterns of diet, the needs of medicine--have striking parallels with earlier periods of English history, emphasizing that solutions to current problems can still be found in the hard-won experience of people in the past.

Part I. The First Experience, 1350-1500
1. Agriculture after the Black Death
Part II. The Second Experience, 1650-1750
2. Entering a New Era
3. Settling into a Routine
4. Alternative Crops: The Successes
5. Alternative Crops: The Near-Failures and Failures
Part III. The Third Experience, 1879-1939
6. Familiar Strategies
7. Diversification and Innovation
8. Context and Conclusion
Part IV. The Fourth Experience, 1980s Onward
9. Alternative Agriculture Today
Conclusion
Postscript

Thirsk writes with relish about the successes and failures of alternative agriculture. Her book is a delightful guide to a subject that has perhaps not been treated in the past with the seriousness it deserves. Certainly, no one has ever written such a clever synthesis as this. --Historian

Thirsk's brilliant study of six centuries of British agriculture affirms her status as the preeminent scholar of the subject...Thirsk's fascinating study is rich in detail about the successes and failures of experimentation, and it stresses the importance of regional specialization, the clear patterns that characterized each period, the lessons learned that permanently influenced British agriculture, economy, l³g