Article 181 of alt.co-evolution:
Path: samba!concert!rock!stanford.edu!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!yale.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!louie!udel!rochester!cornell!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!usenet
From: Thomas Bjorkman <Thomas_Bjorkman@cornell.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.co-evolution
Subject: Re: Historical Sources on Sustainability of Agriculture
Date: 15 Feb 1993 14:31:17 GMT
Organization: Cornell University
Lines: 22
Sender: tnb1@cornell.edu (Verified)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1lo9flINNqqg@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>
References: <1993Feb13.014457.5126@news.ysu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 132.236.4.9
X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1.1d7
X-XXDate: Mon, 15 Feb 93 09:31:32 GMT

This doe slook like a very interesting approach.  I know that the
Mesopotamian situation is used as an example of the failure of irrigated
agriculture.  However, I certainly don't know if the social processes
that led to that failure are known.  Are they being repeated in
California, or have we wised up.

Another situation where the social processes are very imporant was
recounted by Garrison Keillor this week.  He was right on the money.  A
farmer in Lake W. had learned about a particular practice that was more
sustainable, planting no-till corn into a killed oat cover crop.  The
ideas behind it all made sense and he was convinced that it would work. 
But he did not want to be the first in Lake Wobegon to do it.  His
neighbors would make fun of him because it was out of the ordinary.

I think this situation arises a lot.  Even though the particular practice
has been proven many places, and is not particularly mysterious, it is
not adopted.  Agricultrual extension agents do a lot of what are called
demonstration and implementation trials for just this reason.  

Sorry to go off track from history to sociology, but I wanted to raise
another example where increasing the sustainablility of agriculture does
not depend on us biologists.


