Sustainable Rural Systems: Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Communities

by Robinson,Guy; Robinson,Guy

• ISBN13: 9780754647157
• ISBN10: 0754647153
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In a neo-liberal era where society is demanding mass-produced, cheap foods and living standards are based on high consumption of non-renewable energy and materials, this book examines how sustainability in rural areas can be measured. Drawing on a wide range of topical case studies from across the UK and Canada, it provides an in-depth analysis of the progress made so far towards sustainability within rural systems, focussing specifically upon sustainable agriculture and sustainable rural communities.First of all, providing an overview of the various systems of sustainability currently being applied in the developed world, it then highlights key environmental, economic and social issues, including 'aternative' food networks, organic farming, GM foods, conservation, rural development programmes, sustainable tourism, local training schemes and community participation.In concludes by drawing together important multi-faceted lessons and suggests the most positive directions for future policy practice.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Sustainable rural systems: an introduction

Productivism versus post-productivism? Modes of agri-environmental governance in post-Fordist agricultural transitions

Sustainable Agriculture

Constructing sustainability through reconnection: the case of 'alternative' food networks

Farm animals and rural sustainability

A study of the motivations and influences on farmers' decisions to leave the organic farming sector in the United Kingdom

GM farming and sustainability

Balancing nature conservation 'needs' and those of other land uses in a multi-functional context: high-value nature conservation sites in lowland England

Sustainable Rural Communities

'Culture economy', 'integrated tourism' and 'sustainable rural development': evidence from Western Ireland

The Cumbria hill sheep initiative: a solution to the decline in upland hill farming community in England?

Participation and stewardship: sustainability in 2 Canadian environmental programmes

Index

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