ABSTRACT
Agroecology is at the forefront of transforming our food systems. This bestselling textbook provides the essential foundation for understanding this transformation in all its components: agricultural, ecological, economic, social, cultural, and political. It presents a case for food system change, explains the principles and practices underlying the ecological approach to food production, and lays out a vision for a food system based on equity and greater compatibility with the planet’s life support systems. New to the fourth edition:
- A chapter on Alternatives to Industrial Agriculture, covering the similarities and distinctions among different approaches to sustainable agriculture
- A chapter on Ecological Pest, Weed, and Disease Management
- A chapter on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture
- A chapter on Agriculture and the Climate Crisis
- A revised analysis and critique of the food system’s embeddedness in the extractive capitalist world economy that reflects ideas in the emerging field of political agroecology
- Streamlined treatment of agroecology’s foundations in ecological science, making the text more compatible with typical course curricula
A Companion Website at https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9781032187105/ incorporates the entire contents of the updated practical manual Field and Laboratory Investigations in Agroecology, split into student and lecturer resources. These 24 sample investigations facilitate hands-on learning that involves close observation, creative interpretation, and constant questioning of findings.
Groundbreaking in its first edition and established as the definitive text in its second and third, the fourth edition of Agroecology captures recent developments in the field and forcefully applies the idea that agroecology is a science, a movement, and a practice. Written by a team of experts, this book will encourage students and practitioners to consider the critical importance of transitioning to a new paradigm for food and agriculture.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
section Section I|48 pages
Pathway to agroecology
chapter 1|20 pages
The case for fundamental change in agriculture
chapter 2|14 pages
Alternatives to industrial agriculture
chapter 3|12 pages
The agroecosystem concept
section Section II|86 pages
Agricultural organisms and their environment
chapter 4|10 pages
The plant: nutrition, growth, and response to the environment
chapter 5|12 pages
Light
chapter 6|20 pages
Climatic factors affecting plants
chapter 7|14 pages
Biotic factors and interactions among organisms
chapter 8|22 pages
The soil ecosystem
chapter 9|6 pages
The environmental complex
section Section III|149 pages
System-level interactions
chapter 10|12 pages
Population ecology of agroecosystems
chapter 11|21 pages
Genetic resources in agroecosystems
chapter 12|11 pages
Species interactions in crop communities
chapter 13|19 pages
Agroecosystem diversity
chapter 14|17 pages
Ecological pest, weed, and disease management
chapter 15|17 pages
Successional development and agroforestry
chapter 16|20 pages
Animals in agroecosystems
chapter 17|14 pages
Energetics of agroecosystems
chapter 18|11 pages
Landscape diversity
section Section IV|54 pages
Agroecological farms and communities
chapter 19|13 pages
Sustainability and its assessment
chapter 20|9 pages
Converting farms to ecologically based management
chapter 21|14 pages
Bringing farmers and consumers closer together
chapter 22|14 pages
Urban and peri-urban agriculture
section Section V|61 pages
Transforming the global food system