From the Ground Up

Helena Norberg-Hodge is director of both the Ladakh Project and ISEC. Her formal training was in linguistics, including work at MIT with Noam Chomsky. She has lectured extensively on environmental issues in both Europe and North America, and is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh (1991), which explores the root causes behind today's environmental and social malaise, In 1986, she received the Right Livelihood Award, commonly known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'.Peter Goering graduated in civil engineering from Princeton University. He received his MA from the Energy and Resources Group of the University of California at Berkeley, a department which conducts interdisciplinary research into the relationship between resources, society and the environment. He is currently preparing his doctoral dissertation on 'Sustainable Development and the Contradictions of Modernism', while also working as the ISEC's Research Coordinator.John Page was trained as a barrister in London. For the last decade he has coordinated the technical, educational and agricultural activities of the Ladakh Project, and is now programmes director of ISEC. He is the producer/director of two recent films: The Future of Progress, a compilation of interviews with internationally known environmentalists, and Ancient Futures: Lessons from Little Tibet, a documentary based on Ms Norberg-Hodge's book.

‘There can be few more compellingly presented arguments for a radical and global move to organic agriculture than this. The authors have succeeded in focusing on the key factor behind the mass degradation of our fragile farmlands. They have also clearly demonstrated the existence of a practical ecological alternative.’Sir Julian Rose, organic farmer‘Both a deeply disturbing and an inspiring book that combines, for the first time, a comprehensive critique of industrial agriculture with visionary reviews of the potential of the new worldwide movement towards ecological agriculture.’Patrick Holden, Soil Association‘A superb overview ... Not only details the cul-de-sac into which industrialized agriculture has taken us, but provides useful insights into ways out of the crisis.’Nicholas Hildyard, The Ecologist‘A concise and very readable book covering many of the contradictions of industrial agriculture and linking North/South problems in a very satisfactory way.’Michael Redclift, Wye College, University of London‘I have often wanted a short, coherent argument about the nature of industrial agriculture, and an outline of realistic alternatives to it. At last, here is such a book.’Wes Jackson, The Land Institute

• Introduction: Shifting from Global to Local: Sowing the Seeds of CommunityPart I: Industrial Agriculture: Broken Promises1. The Context of Industrial Agriculture2. New Seeds: Meeting Corporate Needs3. Chemical Fertilisers: Artificial Abundance4. Pesticides: The Deadly Solution5. Animal Husbandry: Farm as Factory6. Mechanisation: The Technological Treadmill7. The Bigger Picture8. Biotechnology and 'Free' Trade: More of the SamePart II: The New Agriculture: Back to Basics9. The Context of Ecological Agriculture10. Learning From the Past11. Techniques of Ecological Agriculture12. Positive Trends13. 'Counter-Development' and New Ways ForwardAppendixes