Globalization and the Rural Environment: (Series on Latin American Studies)

About the Book

As the world transitions from an industrial society to an information society, agriculture has undergone a dramatic transformation. Food production in the 20th century was transformed by three revolutions: first mechanical, then genetic, and finally chemical. Now, in the 21st century, agriculture is going through at least two more revolutions: an information technology revolution leading to precision farming, and a biotechnology revolution leading to genetically engineered crops.

Organized by Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies with the collaboration of the Scientific Committee for Problems of the Environment, this interdisciplinary volume examines the impact of a variety of new technological, social, and economic trends on the rural environment.

About the Author :
Otto T. Solbrig is Bussey Professor of Biology, Harvard University. Robert Paarlberg is Betty F. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. Francesco Di Castri is former Associate Director General of UNESCO and Director-Founder of its Man and Biosphere Programme. John H. Coatsworth is Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and former Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. Merilee Grindle is the Edward S. Mason Professor of International Development, Emerita, at Harvard University and the former director of its David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. She served as president of the Latin American Studies Association and has written or contributed to over a dozen scholarly books.

Review :
This book is key to understanding the overwhelming changes shaking our world, an inescapable book for all those interested in the challenges that the rural world is facing because of globalization shaped by the information society. The deepness of the analyses and the diversity of new insights present the render with unsuspected and stimulating perspectives on problems that are usually tackled separately, whether they deal with new technologies, economic growth, risks of hunger, or the evolution of the rural environment. This book makes excellent reading for everyone scientifically or otherwise professionally interested in the subject of the rural environment and its transformation by successive cycles of globalization and new technologies, including the opportunity provided by the new information technologies. The book provides a wealth of information and interesting ideas for the formulation on new policies. Globalization and the economic changes of the post-industrial economy are creating enormous changes in rural enterprises and in the life of our rural communities, with often contradictory results. To reach economic development with equity we must continue with productive and technological changes. But we also must find ways to make economic growth sustainable in ecological terms, and above all in social terms. I am convinced that this book will help in that direction. The need for better food for everybody is a great challenge; to obtain food sustainably is another great challenge. That the discussion in this book includes the views from farmers to scientists, from Europe and America, and that the venue was Harvard, is very encouraging for farmers worried about sustainability. It is a great contribution to sustainable agriculture that we hope soon will be translated to other languages.