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Digital atlas of traditional agricultural practices and food processing
\"This atlas is intended as a resource, not just for archaeobotanists hoping to reconstruct past foodways, but also for other archaeologists, palaeoecologists, ethnographers, and agricultural historians. Documenting an era of actual rural community practices in relation to local land use, it also provides unique material for rural sociologists, landscape ecologists, and agricultural technologists. The Digital atlas of traditional agricultural practices and food processing documents the various processes involved in the production of food-from working the fields through to processing the crops for food, fodder, and other purposes. The atlas aims to define and describe these various processes unambiguously by using a standardized vocabulary and by explicitly taking into account the intention behind each process. Illustrated with more than 3,000 photographs and numerous films documenting 20 years of field observation in the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, the atlas also includes detailed case studies of the practices and processes involving grapes, olives, date palms, barley, and wheat. Many of these processes are part of the intangible cultural heritage of agriculture that is now rapidly disappearing. The books contain full colour photographs as well as indexes on plant name and subject. The website includes both photographs and films, which can be examined in more detail using the site's extensive search tools.\"-- $c Publisher's website.
Book
The value of transhumance for biodiversity conservation
In recent decades, intensive techniques of livestock raising have flourished, which has largely replaced traditional farming practices such as transhumance. These changes may have affected scavengers’ behaviour and ecology, as extensive livestock is a key source of carrion. This study evaluates the spatial responses of avian scavengers to the seasonal movements of transhumant herds in south-eastern Spain. We surveyed the abundance of avian scavengers and ungulates, and analysed the factors affecting the space use by 30 GPS-tracked griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus). Griffons’ foraging activity increased in the pasturelands occupied by transhumant herds, which implied greater vulture abundance at the landscape level during the livestock season. In contrast, facultative scavengers were more abundant without transhumant livestock herds, and the abundance of wild ungulates did not change in relation to livestock presence. We conclude that fostering transhumance and other traditional farming systems, to the detriment of farming intensification, could favour vulture conservation.
Journal Article
Heirloom seeds and their keepers : marginality and memory in the conservation of biological diversity
Farmers and gardeners have long appreciated a wide variety of plants and have nurtured them for meals, medicine, and exchange. But diversity too often has been surrendered to monocultures of fields and spirits, predisposing much of modern agriculture to uniformity and, consequently, vulnerability. Today it is primarily at the individual level - such as growing and saving a strange old bean variety or a curious-looking gourd - that any lasting conservation actually takes place. Heirloom Seeds and Their Keepers offers a much-needed, scientifically researched perspective on the contribution of seedsaving that illustrates its critical significance to the preservation of both cultural knowledge and crop diversity around the world. It opens new conversations between anthropology and biology, and between researchers and practitioners, as it honors conservation as a way of life.
Book
No stone unturned : a history of farming, landscape and environment in the Scottish Highlands and Islands
A survey of how Highland society organised its farming communities, exploited its resource base and interacted with its environment from prehistory to 1914.
eBook
Agricultural Beginnings in the American Southwest
How did agriculture come about in the American Southwest? What environmental and social factors led to the cultivation of plants? How, in turn, did the use of these new agricultural products affect the ancient peoples living in the region? In pursuit of answers to these questions, Barbara Roth synthesizes data from both CRM and academic research to explore the emergence and impact of Southwestern agriculture. Roth examines agricultural beginnings across the entire Southwest, both northern and southern, and across culture groups residing there. Beyond simply addressing the arrival and widespread adoption of specific cultigens, she pays particular attention to human factors such as patterns of production andvariability in agricultural developments. Her consideration of broad social and environmental dynamics affecting forager diets and adaptive strategies sheds new light on what we know—and what we should ask—about the transition fromforaging to farming.
eBook
Sustainable Practices For Plant Disease Management In Traditional Farming Systems
Most scientists and many of the world's farmers have abandoned traditional farming practices and systems in an effort to increase production and to improve the efficiency of land and labor use. The resulting \"modern\" systems largely ignore many of the sustainable pest management practices that have evolved among farmers over centuries. In this book, H. David Thurston catalogs and reviews valuable practices that are in danger of being lost in the modernization process.
Ancient farmers developed sustainable agricultural practices, including disease management, that allowed them to produce food and fiber for thousands of years with few outside inputs. Most systems were developed empirically through millennia of trial and error, natural selection, and observation. These proven practices often conserved energy, maintained natural resources, and reduced chemical use. A high level of diversity contributed to making traditional systems stable, resilient, and efficient. Thurston evaluates the sustainability, labor requirements, and external inputs needed for these diverse systems and their management, providing a comprehensive summary of effective traditional agricultural practices for plant disease management.
eBook
Impact of climate change and variability on traditional farming systems : Farmers’ perceptions from south-west, semi-arid Zimbabwe
Despite annual climate variability threats, traditional farming in semi-arid Zimbabwe remains entrenched in unproductive, rain-fed agricultural practices. Adaptation strategies by farmers are seemingly failing to mitigate climate impacts, as evidenced by annual crop and livestock losses. Matabeleland South Province was a thriving livestock and small grain-producing province in the 1970s. Today, the province relies heavily on humanitarian assistance from government and humanitarian agencies. Through literature review, observations and focus group discussions with 129 farmers, the qualitative study established the perceptions of farmers around climate variability impacts in the past 20 years in Mangwe, Matobo and Gwanda districts in Zimbabwe. The study (1) analysed changes in climate and weather patterns in the past 20 years; (2) analysed climate impacts on traditional farming systems in the past 20 years in Gwanda, Mangwe and Matobo districts in Zimbabwe; and (3) established farmers’ perceptions, experiences and their climate adaptive strategies. The findings showed that the farmers experienced annual heat waves, protracted droughts, chaotic rain seasons, frost and floods, which led to environmental degradation. Traditional farming systems or practices have been abandoned in favour of buying and selling and gold panning, among other alternative livelihood options, because of climate-related threats and misconceptions around the subject of climate change. Farmers fail to access timely and comprehensive weather forecasts, resulting in annual crop and livestock losses, as decision-making is compromised. Given that the smallholder farming system sustains the bulk of the population in Matabeleland South Province in Zimbabwe, climate education and capital investment is needed to change traditional farmer perceptions about climate change impacts on the farming practices. Increased climate awareness initiatives, establishment of village-based weather stations and the marrying of traditional farming climate knowledge to modern practices are highly recommended to enhance resilience to climate.
Journal Article
Key lessons from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ farming systems: insights from a global review
Indigenous and traditional farming systems, used and practised by the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), over millennia, offer viable, secure, and diverse solutions to many problems caused by the modern agricultural systems, such as soil and water pollution with excessive input of chemicals, water usage, and heavy dependence on a few crop varieties globally, leading to severe environmental consequences. We reviewed 49 studies from various regions, encompassing a range of geographic areas, from mountainous to arid agro-ecological systems, and highlight the diverse farming techniques applied by the IPLCs. The key attributes of IPLCs’ farming systems include their diverse, holistic, and intertwined nature of land, water and people, which integrates site-specific local knowledge, cultural values, rituals, and social festivals—offering multiple benefits for both human and ecosystem health. However, due to non-monetary nature of many such benefits, their true value largely remains underestimated or ignored. Only 24 out of 49 reviewed studies highlighted the economic value of these systems, which was limited to the monetary value of produce while omitting a significant non-monetary component. We suggest applying a TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) agri-food systems approach, accounting for natural, social, human, and produced capitals, to inform policy decision-makers so that IPLC farming systems are appropriately supported in the future. In addition, these systems are often grounded in community settings, with local governance and fine-scale local knowledge (as revealed in all studies), and they can deliver community-led initiatives, social cohesion, and effective local solutions to environmental problems, such as biodiversity loss and soil degradation. However, due to colonization, industrialization, agricultural expansion, and market pressures, these farming systems are facing serious challenges. This paper highlights the ecological, social and economic importance of IPLCs’ farming systems—suggesting the need for governments to revive, promote and support them to ensure food security, the health and nutritional well-being of people, and the health of natural systems for the present and future generations. Learning IPLC’ agroecological, socio-cultural, and sustainability principles can help update modern agricultural systems.
Journal Article
Characterizing social-ecological units to inform biodiversity conservation in cultural landscapes
Aim Cultural landscapes and their biodiversity are threatened by land use changes and the abandonment of traditional farming techniques. Conceptualizing cultural landscapes as social–ecological systems can be useful to develop strategies for biodiversity conservation. First, this study aimed to develop a typology of social–ecological units based on land use patterns. Second, we sought to relate this typology to biophysical and socio-demographic drivers as well as to biodiversity outcomes. Location Southern Transylvania (Romania). Methods We developed a typology of villages in Southern Transylvania based on land use data. We collected species richness data for plants, butterflies and birds, modelled local richness data for each village and related these values to the village typology. Also, we related village typology to biophysical and socio-demographic variables. Results We identified four types of villages that showed distinct species richness patterns. Bird richness was highest in forest-dominated and mixed-land use villages; plant richness was highest in pasture-dominated villages; and butterfly richness was high in arable-dominated, mixed-land use and pasture-dominated villages. The four types of villages had distinct topographic characteristics and also differed in terms of ethnic composition, migration patterns and geographic location. Drawing on a combined understanding of social–ecological variables, different conservation actions could be prioritized for each of the four village types. Main conclusions Applying social–ecological approaches has the potential to inform biodiversity conservation in cultural landscapes. Social–ecological typologies can improve our understanding of complex systems and provide useful input for the development of effective strategies for biodiversity conservation.
Journal Article
Linking Cork to Cork Oak Landscapes: Mapping the Value Chain of Cork Production in Portugal
Traditional farming landscapes in South and Central Portugal, known as montados, are affected by global socio-economic and biophysical pressures, putting the sustainability of the systems in jeopardy. Cork oak trees ( Quercus suber L.) are characteristic features of these complex agro-silvo-pastoral agroforestry systems, delivering a globally important product, cork. The increasingly distant, global scale of decision making and trade can consequently be observed on the local, landscape, scale. In this study, we use a value chain approach to test the concept that landscape products can ensure sustainable management of the landscape of origin. We interviewed agents—cork producers, intermediaries, industrial transformers, and winemakers—about the challenges they perceived in the business and how these were connected to the landscape of origin. We illustrate the network of agents and sub-actors involved in the sector and highlight the most prominent concerns. We conclude that this approach can reveal the major points for determining the future of the montado, and we suggest that collaboration amongst value chain agents can be a pathway to landscape sustainability.
Journal Article