Field Research in North American Agricultural Communities

Author:	Molz, Rick, and Will, Frederic
Year:	2003
Pages:	224
ISBN:	0-7734-6808-0 978-0-7734-6808-5
Price:	$179.95

This book is based on field research in agricultural communities in Chiapas, Quebec, and Iowa. It is both an academic and a warmhearted study of the social and human factors embedded within the three agricultural communities making up the North American Free Trade Agreement. It will inform scholars and general readers interested in ecology, environment, international relations, agriculture and technology, rural sociology, and technology and social transition. It will also inform those who are interested in the food they eat, who ask questions about how that food was processed, taking the reader into the banana grove, cornfield, and dairy barn as well as into the banana packing plant, grain processing factory and cheese factory.

Reviews

"This cross-cultural study in Mexico, U.S., and Canada is a fascinating window into the lives of farm people and families who are likely to survive in a complex industry that is increasingly shaped by globalization&. They paint a rich picture of agricultural and local history, the current situation, and future perspectives&. The book is comprehensive in describing the challenges these farmer-business people have met and overcome, as well as the successes they have achieved by staying on the cutting edge. Frederic Will and Rick Molz have given us the unique opportunity to share their rich experience in visiting farmers first-hand in these three cultures. To accompany them on the journey and through the interviews makes it well worth while to read the book." - Prof. Charles A. Francis, University of Nebraska, Lincoln