Tracing the Evolution of Organic/Sustainable AgricultureA Selected and Annotated BibliographyBibliographies and Literature of Agriculture (BLA) no. 72November 1988
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IntroductionThis bibliography cites writings through which may be traced the evolution of organic/sustainable agriculture and its pattern of philosophical and scientific aspects. It is not a comprehensive list, but the interested reader will find authors' references, individual bibliographies, and sources within the cited writings which will widen the traced path. Three recent compilations have been of invaluable assistance in the preparation of this bibliography: R. R. Harwood* and M. C. Merrill*, writing in 1983 I and A. M. Scofield* (who wrote a brief article on the origin of the name "organic farming" in 1986) included in their writings citations to selected important works, many of which are cited here. In addition, acknowledgment is made.of the work of the Canadian "Ecological Agriculture Project" (EAP) of the Macdonald College of McGill University, which has also compiled annotated lists of the literature of ecological agriculture and of selected background works of holistic approaches to agriculture. All of the works cited here are in the collection of the National Agricultural Library, and NAL's call numbers are included in the citations. Directly below the call-number is a "cited in" reference which refers to one or more of the following listed authors:
This bibliography was compiled under the direction of Jayne MacLean, Coordinator of the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center. Katy Bielenberg, clerk-typist, provided valuable assistance. Persons wishing to suggest additions or changes to this list are invited to contact the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, Rm 304, Beltsville, MD 20705. * see References cited in the introduction
1580 This classic has been-reprinted almost every century since its original publication. Tusser's maxims include observations of human behavior--"Still crop'upon crop many farmers do take, and reap little profit, for greediness sake... 11, observations concerning the land--"-and land (overburdened) is clean out of heart", or "if land be unlusty, the crop is not great." He also gives advice by the month, frequently in rhyme. "Octobers Abstract" is about the rotation of crops: "Where barlie did growe, laie wheat to sowe, yet better I thinke, sowe pease, after drinke. And then if ye please, sowe wheat after pease.11
1788 Dickson quotes Columella, Palladius, Cato, Virgil, Pliny, et.al., regarding the knowledge and practice of husbandry, and confesses in the preface to be "agreeably surprised to find, that, notwithstanding the great differences in climate, the maxims of the ancient Roman farmers are the same with those of the best modern farmers in Britain..."
1846 The introduction contains a proposal for establishment of a "National Board of Agriculture," plus recommendations for States' actions, particularly re education.
1864 Lincoln was President when this report was published. Wolfinger defines his subject, tracing its history in Flanders (now Belgium), and listing the benefits of, and objections to, the practice of green manuring. He also quotes what "the best agricultural writers say of green manures."
1881 The real foundation for "the study of the principles underlying farming and gardening...
1906 Professor of Agriculture at the University of California and Director of the California Experiment Station, Hilgard originally planned this to be a text and reference book, but enlarged its scope to include his soil studies "in the humid and arid regions."
1907 The author writes of his more than 30 years' experience in India and in England as a planter and a farmer. He quotes Cato, devotes considerable space to Arthur Young, and remarks that proposals to agricultural changes are often met with a response characterized as "What we knows we knows, and what we don't know we don't want to know."
1907 Fletcher, then at the Agricultural College of Michigan, attempts here to "set forth the important facts about the soil in a plain and nontechnical manner."
1910 This book contains chapters on "Theories concerning soil Fertility" and on the Rothamsted Experiments. The final chapter is titled "Two Periods in Agricultural History" and contains quotations from Varro (B.C.226 to 28) to Liebig and Lincoln (1859) to King (1910).
1911 King, a chief of the USDA Division of Soil Management, wrote this book after his retirement but did not live to write a final chapter. Bailey calls it the "writing of a well-trained observor who went to study the actual conditions of life of agricultural peoples." It is one of the most influential of all the works cited, with far-reaching consequences for agricultural practices worldwide.
1915 "Dean" Bailey, who wrote many textbooks in fields relating to agriculture and who published one volume of verse, writes here on a simple "philosophy of rural life."
1923 This article reflects the government's views as to the "present situation and future outlook" regarding available resources for the growing of food and raw materials which must be supplied by crop lands, pastures and forests. As such, it is both a summary and an estimate.
1924 This is the text which is based on the series of lectures Steiner gave in Silesia (E. Germany) in 1924. The lecture series marked the beginning of the bio-dynamic agriculture movement.
1927 Pieters was an agronomist working for the USDA at the time he wrote this book, defining "green manuring," and cover, catch and shade crops. The second chapter, a history of the subject, covers China and Japan, Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages to England and America in the 19th Century.
1936 An "attempt to tell the story of humus, its origin from plant and animal residues, its chemical composition, its physical properties, its importance in nature, especially in soil processes and in plant growth, and finally its decomposition."
1938 More than 100 authors contributed to this yearbook, including William A. Albrecht, then Professor of Soils at the University of Missouri and one of the fathers of the ecological agricultural movement. It represents an effort to see "the subject as a whole--scientific aspects, practical aspects, social and economic aspects; the needs of individuals, groups, and the Nation."
1939 Frequently cited, this book is a pioneering classic on the subject.
1940 This is the classic study on soil fertility by the "father of the movement." It includes the "Agriculture of the Nations Which Have Passed Away" and observations of agricultural practices of both the Orient and the Occident.
1940 This frequently overlooked early inspirational work includes the first known use of the term "organic farming" in a chapter heading on page 148, "diversified organic farming a practical proposition." According to his son, the present Baron, Northbourne felt obliged, when World War II came in 1939, "to recommend to other farms the chemical methods of stimulating production" in order to "help feed" the country. "Being an honourable person, he therefore felt that he, too, must abandon his organic production and adopt the more conventional methods of fertilising and weed control which were beginning to emerge at that time." (Personal correspondence 9/88)
1943 Based on 32 years' comparison of organic, mixed and chemical sections of a farm at Haughley, England, this is an extremely readable exposition of the evidence in favor of biological agriculture by one of the founders of that country's "Soil Association."
1943 As the title implies, this famous work states that plowing is wrong, and that the moldboard plow is not a satisfactory implement for the preparation of land for the production of crops.
1945 The classic statement on the value of soil, this and Rodale's later works sparked and fueled the organic movement in North America.
1946 This account of scientific work based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner details the Koliskos controlled experiments on the effects of cosmic forces on crop production.
1947 The journal of the famous Ohio farmer/author, this work intersperses anecdotes and history with practical advice and a recounting of his experiences. It is a sequel to his earlier book, Pleasant Valley, published in 1945.
1947 This is an account of the ideas and principles of Sir Albert Howard written by his second wife, also a proponent of organic agriculture.
1947 Based on Steiner's approach, this book stresses the importance of the "life process (biological process)", with the farm or garden a biological organic unit, not a series of unconnected processes.
1948 Rodale calls the movement "organiculture", the "new, yet age-old method."
1949 In this well-known collection of essays, Leopold presents the case for a land ethic as a product of social evolution.
1950 Called a "pioneering work" in the advocacy of the controlled use of weeds, this book's author wrote on other subjects having to do with modern farming practices.
1951 An experienced British farmer, the author of this book also wrote Humus and the Farmer and Modern Humus Farming.
1954 One of the best early sources of technical information regarding natural fertilizing, this represents an "attempt to gather together relevant material that may have some bearing on the results achieved by,..organic methods."
1954 Depicted by the author, who has a chemistry background, as largely a 'how-to' book, " this work integrates Wickenden's advice with the scientific basis on which the organic concept of plant growth was built. Readers can thus learn both organic gardening practices and how to defend them. In 1949 Wickenden had written the popular Make Friends with your Land.
1955 This is a substantive work on the subject, with a thorough and well-documented framework.
1955 Also spelled "lea"; the dictionary defines ley as "arable land sown to grasses or clover for hay or grazing and usually plowed and planted with other crops after two or three years." Turner boasts that the "herbal ley is my manure merchant, my food manufacturer, and my vet, all in one."
1964 One of the early works on biological control of insect pests, a 1971 postscript by the author cites research being done by the USDA.
1964 A farmer/author writes seriously about agriculture, the importance of the soil, and a philosophy based on his observations and beliefs.
1976 This work was originally published in German so the bibliography is of unusual interest.
1977 A review/criticism on agricultural policy today, this work presents the author's position: "the care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility."
1978 These are proceedings of the lst conference of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), in French, German, and English. All IFOAM proceedings are recommended.
1978 The author, trained in theology, science and engineering, looks at more than just comparative economic issues and presents a detailed study of internal and external costs and benefits of ecological and conventional agriculture.
1979 Jeavons, a former systems an analyst, writes a "primer on the life-giving biodynamic/French intensive method of organic agriculture." He is involved with "Ecology Action" in Palo Alto, California.
1979 A "first reader" in eco-agriculture, this book is written from an organic perspective on the basis of plant and soil science, agronomy and pest control.
1980 A translation of selections of the famous Dutch report of 1976, this work includes descriptions of each school of ecological agriculture, and a literature review on techniques, yields, food quality, impact on the environment, and research recommendations.
1980 The new edition has a foreword by Wendell Berry and an "afterward" to its conclusion, pp 133-148. Both Berry and Jackson are leaders in the movement today.
1980 Compiled with the assistance of the Rodale Press survey of The New Farm readers, this study was "conducted to learn more about the potential contributions of organic farming as a system for the production of food and fiber." A first for the U.S., it is a general overview of the status of organic agriculture in the United States: methods, implications for environmental and food quality, economic assessment, and research recommendations.
1981 This includes "most of the papers" presented at the lst international symposium of the International Institute of Biological Husbandry, 1980. Sections include: soil structure, flora and fauna, agricultural methods, biological husbandry in the tropics, systems of agriculture, and comparative studies.
1982 This volume and other available proceedings of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) conferences are highly recommended.
1983 A review of tempe rate and tropical agroecology, theory and practice, this work includes chapters on the design of sustainable systems, traditional peasant agriculture, polyculture, tree cropping, live mulches, minimum tillage, and pest control.
1984 Written by 21 of the foremost thinkers on the subject of agroecosystems, the majority of the chapters were presented initially at a 1982 symposium held during a meeting of the Ecological Society of America.
1985 Fukuoka, author of The One Straw Revolution, reiterates his five major principles: no tillage, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no weeding, and no pruning. His book deals almost exclusively with farming in Japan, but his message can be viewed from a universal perspective. References cited in the Introduction1983Harwood, R.R. "International Overview of Regeneration Agriculture," Proceedings of Workshops on Resource-Efficient Farming Methods for Tanzania, May 16-20, 1983 Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press 12 pp.
1983
1986
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