Balancing on a Planet : The Future of Food and Agriculture

349 Pages·2014·9.96 MB·English

by  Cleveland

Balancing on a Planet
The Future of Food and Agriculture
DAVID A. CLEVELAND
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
Balancing on a Planet
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Balancing on a Planet
The Future of Food and Agriculture
DAVID A. CLEVELAND
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches
lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and
institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2014 by David A. Cleveland
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cleveland, David Arthur.
Balancing on a planet : the future of food and agriculture / David A. Cleveland.
pages cm — (California studies in food and culture ; 46)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-27741-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-27742-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Food industry and trade. 2. Agricultural industries—Environmental aspects. 3. Sustainable agriculture—
Economic aspects. 4. Food supply. I. Title. II. Series: California studies in food and culture ; 46.
hd9000.5c585 2014
338.1—dc23 2013035775
Manufactured in the United States of America
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 2002)
(Permanence of Paper).
I dedicate this book to my colleague and partner, Daniela Soleri, whose intellectual insights and
inspiration have been essential to this book; to our daughter, Xina C.(cid:2)C. Soleri, who has helped
in many ways—with fi eldwork, with ideas, and always with a fresh outlook on everything; and to
the small-scale farmers of the world whose knowledge and aspirations are critical resources for
creating more sustainable agrifood systems.
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xiii
Preface: A Personal History xv
Acknowledgments xxv
Introduction(cid:3)1
PART ONE(cid:2)Agrifood Systems History and Future(cid:2)11
1 Eating Stardust: Population, Food, and Agriculture on Planet Earth(cid:3)13
2 Agricultural Revolutions(cid:3)47
3 Thinking Critically about Sustainable Agrifood Systems(cid:3)71
4 Sustainable Agrifood Systems: Three Emphases(cid:3)97
PART TWO(cid:2)Moving toward Sustainable Agrifood Systems: A Balancing Act(cid:2)123
5 Managing Evolution: Plant Breeding and Biotechnology(cid:3)125
6 Managing Agricultural Ecosystems: The Critical Role of Diversity(cid:3)160
7 Managing People: The Common Property Option(cid:3)183
8 The Big Solutions: Climate Change, Resource Cycles, and Diet(cid:3)205
9 The Big Solutions: Localizing Agrifood Systems(cid:3)233
Appendix 1. Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Symbols 255
Appendix 2. Metric Units and Metric-English Unit Conversions 258
Notes 261
References 271
Index 313
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ILLUSTRATIONS
0.1. Zorse, Bawku, Ghana, in the dry season xvii
0.2. Hopi farmer Jerry Honawa planting bean seed xxi
1.1. Global birth and death rates per 1,000 population 21
1.2. Population pyramids in the industrial and Third Worlds 25
1.3. The zone where human impact approaches human carrying capacity 29
1.4. Future scenarios for human impact and human carrying capacity 30
1.5. Kusasi child gathering millet stalks for the cooking fi re 33
1.6. Birth intervals and child mortality 34
1.7. Value of children and fertility in Zorse, Ghana 36
1.8. General method for estimating human carrying capacity 38
1.9. Three key effi ciencies aff ecting human carrying capacity 39
1.10. Estimating human carrying capacity for one key food production
resource 41
2.1. Major agricultural revolutions and crop varieties dominant in each 49
2.2. Areas of origin of some important crops 55
2.3. Cumulative, directional phenotypic selection for a heritable trait 59
2.4. Selection for nonbrittle rachis in domestication of grain crops 62
2.5. Phenotypic selection classifi ed and selection of the farmer plant
breeder as agent 63
3.1. The process of analysis for increasing sustainability in agrifood systems 73
3.2. A holistic model of reality, knowledge, and action for sustainable agrifood
systems 77
ix