Product Description
At a time when food is becoming increasingly scarce in many parts of the world and food prices are skyrocketing, no industry is more important than agriculture. Humans have been farming for thousands of years, and yet agriculture has undergone more fundamental changes in the past 80 years than in the previous several centuries. In 1900, 30 million American farmers tilled the soil or tended livestock; today there are fewer than 4.5 million farmers who feed a population four times larger than it was at the beginning of the century. Fifty years ago, the planet could not have sustained a population of 6.5 billion; now, commercial and industrial agriculture ensure that millions will not die from starvation. Farmers are able to feed an exponentially growing planet because the greatest industrial revolution in history has occurred in agriculture since 1929, with U.S. farmers leading the way. Productivity on American farms has increased tenfold, even as most small farmers and tenants have been forced to find other work. Today, only 300,000 farms produce approximately ninety percent of the total output, and overproduction, largely subsidized by government programs and policies, has become the hallmark of modern agriculture. A Revolution Down on the Farm: The Transformation of American Agriculture since 1929 charts the profound changes in farming that have occurred during author Paul K. Conkin's lifetime. His personal experiences growing up on a small Tennessee farm complement compelling statistical data as he explores America's vast agricultural transformation and considers its social, political, and economic consequences. He examines the history of American agriculture, showing how New Deal innovations evolved into convoluted commodity programs following World War II. Conkin assesses the skills, new technologies, and government policies that helped transform farming in America and suggests how new legislation might affect farming in decades to come. Although the increased production and mechanization of farming has been an economic success story for Americans, the costs are becoming increasingly apparent. Small farmers are put out of business when they cannot compete with giant, non-diversified corporate farms. Caged chickens and hogs in factory-like facilities or confined dairy cattle require massive amounts of chemicals and hormones ultimately ingested by consumers. Fertilizers, new organic chemicals, manure disposal, and genetically modified seeds have introduced environmental problems that are still being discovered. A Revolution Down on the Farm concludes with an evaluation of farming in the twenty-first century and a distinctive meditation on alternatives to our present large scale, mechanized, subsidized, and fossil fuel and chemically dependent system.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 3 reviews)

Critical of American agriculture? This is how we got here. . . by J. Cippel (Pennsylvania)

5 Stars
March 03, 2009
As Americans grow more concerned about where their food comes from, it is important to understand how our current agricultural system developed. Paul Conkin's "A Revolution Down on the Farm," a history of American agriculture since the Great Depression, provides an excellent account. According to Conkin, new technologies allowed American agriculture to experience tremendous productivity increases after World War II. While population has grown since World War II, agricultural productivity has grown even more. The upshot of this is less hunger in the world; on the other hand, the supply of agricultural products usually far exceeds demand, as farmers (for some reason) are exceedingly bad at responding to price signals. Conkin then explores policymakers' efforts to address this supply-demand imbalance and assure farmers a decent income. Remarkably, he provides a readily comprehensible account of America's various farm bills and the measures they have employed to reduce crop acreage and keep farm incomes up. Ultimately, however, technological advances outweighed the acreage reductions, pushing profit margins down and requiring many farmers to "get big" to stay in business. Conkin's clear history is augmented by personal recollections of his childhood on a small farm in eastern Tennessee. He also provides his own assessment of American agriculture at the end of the book. While Conkin clearly admires the productivity of modern agriculture, he also laments its human and environmental effects. "A Revolution Down on the Farm" is a compelling read; I highly recommend it.

Interesting by Lois B. Hedlund (Brooklyn, NY USA)

4 Stars
November 01, 2008
Very interesting to read how the farm and rural areas have changed throughout the years.

A comparison with today's financial crisis. by Jack

5 Stars
October 23, 2008
The book is clearly written. Readers should compare the crises in agriculture and the actions of government in the 1930's with today's financial crisis and especially how today's government is trying to deal with the financial crisis.

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