Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History

Agricultural history has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years, in part because the agricultural enterprise promotes economic and cultural connections in an era that has become ever more globally focused, but also because of agriculture's potential to lead to conflicts over precious resources. The Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History reflects this rebirth and examines the wide-reaching implications of agricultural issues, featuring essays that touch on the green revolution, the development of the Atlantic slave plantation, the agricultural impact of the American Civil War, the rise of scientific and corporate agriculture, and modern exploitation of agricultural labor.

List of contents

• Introduction


• Jeannie Whayne


• Part I. Timeless Essentials


• 1. Land


• Frank Uekötter


• 2. Soil Fertility


• Laura Drinkwater


• 3. A Short History of Seed Keeping


• Helen Anne Curry


• 4. A History of Livestock and People


• Claire Strom


• 5. Agricultural Contestation: The Case of Locusts


• Martha Few


• 6. Agricultural Labor


• Steve Striffler


• 7. Peasants and the Peasantry: Persistence, Reform or Extinction?


• Jonathan Rigg


• 8. Women in Agriculture


• Pamela Riney-Kehrberg


• Part II. Modern Essentials


• 9. Mechanization of Agriculture


• R. Douglas Hurt


• 10. Agricultural Science


• J.L. Anderson


• 11. Expert and Knowledge Networks


• Deborah Fitzgerald


• 12. Commodity Frontiers as Drivers of Global Capitalism


• Ulbe Bosma and Eric Vanhaute


• 13. Worker Health in Modern Agriculture


• Michitake Aso


• Part III. Exemplary Commodities


• 14. Corn: From Versatile Staple to Global "Flex" Crop


• Elizabeth Fitting


• 15. Wheat


• Tom Isern


• 16. Rice


• Peter A. Coclanis


• 17. Soy: The Making of a Global Commodity


• Ernst Langthaler


• 18. Sugar


• Suzanne Moon


• 19. Coffee: The Promise and Perils of a Global Commodity


• Stuart McCook


• 20. Bananas


• Evan P. Bennett


• 21. Potatoes that Changed the World


• Christopher Shepherd


• 22. Cotton


• Jonathan Robbins


• 23. Tobacco


• Melissa N. Morris


• 24. The Silkscape of California: A Reconsideration of "Failure" in Sericulture


• Lisa Onaga


• Part IV. Key Transitions or Challenges


• 25. Turning Points in Hydro-Agricultural Development


• Christopher L. Pastore


• 26. The Islamic Agricultural Revolution


• Michael J. Decker


• 27. Wet Rice in East Asia: A Long Revolution


• Francesca Bray


• 28. The Atlantic Plantation


• Trevor Burnard


• 29. Agriculture, the Atlantic Plantation, and the Environment in the U.S. South


• Jeannie Whayne


• 30. The British Agricultural Revolution


• Richard Hoyle


• 31. Frontier Agriculture and the Creation of Global Neo-Europes


• Jonathan Daly


• 32. Contestation over Agricultural Production in Colonial Africa


• Cassandra Mark-Thiesen


• 33. The Global Green Revolution


• Mark B. Tauger


• 34. Famine


• Jenny Leigh Smith


• 35. Forest Transition Theory


• Brett Bennett and Gregory Barton

About the author

Jeannie Whayne is Professor of History at the University of Arkansas and a past president of the Agricultural History Society.

Summary

Agricultural history has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years, in part because the agricultural enterprise promotes economic and cultural connections in an era that has become ever more globally focused, but also because of agriculture's potential to lead to conflicts over precious resources. History is replete with stories of armies standing or falling as a result of their supply of agriculturally produced commodities. Civilizations have likewise succumbed because of famine or crop-related pestilence, highlighting the critical nature of agriculture to both regional and global society. The importance and fragility of agricultural systems will come into much greater focus because of climate change in the twenty-first century, something farmers the world over have begun to reckon with. As its implications are manifested in droughts and floods that hamper crop production, urban people will become ever more conscious of their own reliance upon agriculture.

The contemporary critical evaluation of agriculture reflects a transition from a framework that celebrated the positive aspects of the evolution of agriculture to one that also explores its negative implications, such as the emergence of intensive and extractive agriculture that has worked to the detriment of indigenous peoples and disrupted traditional political economies.

The Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History reflects this rebirth and examines the wide-reaching implications of agricultural issues, bringing together the many historiographical traditions within geographic regions across the world that intersect either directly or indirectly in terms of agricultural history. Contributors to this volume include historians from around the world and specialists in European, American, African, Middle East, Russian, and Asian history. Essays touch on the green revolution, the development of the Atlantic slave plantation, the agricultural impact of the American Civil War, the rise of scientific and corporate agriculture, and modern exploitation of agricultural labor. The Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History is an essential volume for those interested in the myriad ways that agricultural systems affect our world.

Product details

• Authors: Whayne , Whayne, Jeannie (Professor of History Whayne
• Assisted by: Jeannie Whayne (Editor), Whayne Jeannie (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.2023
• EAN: 9780190924164
• ISBN: 978-0-19-092416-4
• No. of pages: 672
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Sustainable Development, Sustainability, NATURE / Natural Resources, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Agriculture / General, Environmental Management, Agricultural science