agriculture

Aliases: 
agricultural

H2Omx

This film examines how Mexico City—home to 22 million people—is trying to become water sustainable.

"Apples and Experts: Evolving Notions of Sustainable Agriculture"

Using the Central Coast of California as a case study, this article argues that a nexus of ambitious growers and a growing state agricultural bureaucracy worked to create a “brand name” and teach cultivation approaches with increased production and expanded markets. But these same actors also made efforts to keep the long-term health of the industry and the community in mind.

"Toiling in Paradise: Knowledge Acquisition in the Context of Colonial Agriculture in Brazil's Atlantic Forest"

Four centuries of colonial extraction lead to severe ecological degradation of the forests and soils of the Atlantic region of Brazil. This article discusses the management of soil fertility and the relationship between agricultural practices and forest stands based on agricultural manuals published in Brazil over a period of more than two centuries.

"'Reordering and Counterordering': Forestry Preservation, Bush Clearing and the Sociophysical Mapping of Chepalungu, Kericho District, Kenya, 1930-1963"

Recent research on Africa has emphasised conservation and trypanosomiasis control as the major factors, which first motivated colonial officials and scientists to embark on forestry preservation and bush clearing policies. This paper contends that in Chepalungu, Kenya, forestry preservation and bush clearing were implemented with the objective to create a racially and tribally segregated landscape.

The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal opens for shipping on 15 August 1914. This 77.1 kilometer canal connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across the Isthmus of Panama. It eliminates the need for ships to make a long and hazardous detour around Cape Horn and provides a much faster and safer route between the two oceans.

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The Conservation Reserve Program

In the United States the 1985 Farm Bill lead to the creation of a program called the Conservation Reserve Program. It allows farmers to enter into a rental contract in which they are paid for idling and reverting agricultural land to natural ecosystems for conservation purposes.

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Cuba's Special Period

First Industrial Use of the Haber Process

The Haber Process is a chemical process that converts ammonia into nitrogen and oxygen gas. Nitrogen is an extremely potent fertilizer, and prior to its chemical mass production, was only available in bird and bat feces. The invention of this process and its large-scale use starting in 1913 revolutionized agriculture around the world.

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