Sustainable dryland farming : combining farmer innovation and medic pasture in a Mediterranean climate / Lynne Chatterton and Brian Chatterton.
Material type: TextPublisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1996Description: 1 online resource (xvi, 339 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)Content type:- text
- computer
- online resource
- 9780511470844 (ebook)
- 633.3/182/096 20
- SB205.M4 C48 1996
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
pt. 1. Medic and other systems. Why use medic? -- Farming in South Australia before medic -- Medics and sub-clover on the farms -- pt. 2. Projects. Demonstration medic farm in Libya -- Grazing phase and farmer training -- Medic project in Algeria -- Medic project in Jordan -- Two medic projects in Iraq -- pt. 3. Institutions, agencies, local farmers and technicians. Institutions, agencies and medic -- 1950-80 -- Institutions, agencies and medic -- 1980-93 -- On the farms in Tunisia -- On the farms in Algeria -- On the farms in Morocco -- Future for medic.
Sheep and wheat are the staples of dryland farms in the Mediterranean zone of the Northern hemisphere. The commonly used dryland farming system introduced in the 1950s is proving unsustainable. Erosion has reached a critical level and pastures have all but disappeared. Experts advise more cropping (forage crops for instance) and more fertiliser. Yet intensification of the present system will only hasten erosion. Is there an alternative system that is both environmentally sustainable and within the means of most farmers in the region? Innovative farmers in a similar climate in Australia discovered a sustainable rotation using annual medics as both fertiliser and pasture. Attempts to transfer their knowledge have often foundered. Why is this so? How much do the experts know about this system? This book pulls apart the warp and weft of development on dryland farms to try to find some answers to these questions.
There are no comments on this title.