Book Summary of Agriculture and the Environment by Tim T. Phipps, Peirre R. Crosson and Kent A. Price, eds.
Citation:
Agriculture and the Environment, Tim T. Phipps, Peirre R. Crosson, and Kent A. Price, (eds), (Washington DC: Resources for the Future, 1986), 295 pp.
This Book Summary written by: T.A. O'Lonergan, Conflict Research Consortium
Agriculture and the Environment is a collection of papers which were
presented at the Conference on Agriculture and the Environment in 1986,
sponsored by the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy at Resources
for the Future. This work addresses environmental problems confronting
agriculture and environmental policy analysis as it relates to
agriculture.
Agriculture and the Environment will be of interest to those who
seek an understanding of the relationship between agriculture and the
environment. The work is divided into three parts, the first of which is an
overview of agriculture and the environment by two of the editors, Phipps and
Crosson. The second part of the book addresses environmental problems
confronting agriculture. The first essay in this section examines soil
erosion and policy issues and, as with all the essays, is followed
by a discussion by a different author. The second essay is concerned with the
relationship between irrigated agriculture and mineralized water.
The next two essays address issues surrounding the use of pesticides.
The first of these examines the problems of pesticide regulation
with focus on the competing values of health and environmental
quality and the production of food and fiber. The other
essay addresses a program for research and policy analysis of
pesticides and public policy. The final essay in the second
part examines the incentives for agricultural development of US wetlands
by the presentation of a case study of the bottom-land hardwoods of the lower
Mississippi River Valley.
Part three focuses upon issues in environmental policy analysis.
This part is comprised of three essays the first of which examines institutional
and neo-classical approaches to environmental policy. The
middle essay addresses the relationship between induced innovation in
agriculture and environmental quality. The final essay offers lessons
for policy analysis. The text is nicely supported with multiple tables
and figures which the reader will find useful.
Agriculture and the Environment presents the view of multiple
authors on the relationship between the current practice of agriculture and the
interaction between it and the environment.
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