Ecological Agrarian: Agriculture’s First Evolution in 10, 000 Years

What do beer-swilling swine, predator-friendly sheep, and David Letterman have in common? They are all part of agriculture’s first evolution in 10,000 years. As population growth levels off, production yields continue to grow and demands on agriculture change; the focus of agriculture is moving from just feeding a growing planet to feeding a planet with environmental concerns. Eco-entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the new business opportunities arising from these changes. Applying solutions from the creative to the mundane, they are greening both their pocketbooks and the vistas around them. In Ecological Agrarian, J. Bishop Grewell and Clay J. Landry share stories of numerous eco-entrepreneurs at work, the challenges they face, and the benefits they hope to reap. Grewell and Landry, beginning in 8500 B.C., provide a brief overview of how agriculture not only shaped history, but made written history and civilization even possible. From there, they explain how we are entering an unprecedented era where the race to feed the planet is no longer the lone driving force behind agriculture. That battle, they argue, has largely been won. A new age of agriculture presents new challenges and opportunities. Grewell and Landry document agriculture’s response and then draw conclusions from successes and failures to determine what institutions best foster the entrepreneurs trailblazing agriculture’s future.