The Environmental Imperative: Ecosocial Concerns for Australian Agriculture

Frank Vanclay & Geoffrey Lawrence

Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press.

While many excellent overseas publications exist, there are few Australian books which seek to examine, from a sociological perspective, the relationship between the continuing degradation of the environment and the social relations of production in agriculture. This book provides an up-to-date text for students in rural sociology and environmental sociology units in Australian universities. We also hope that it will help to develop a more critical, sociological approach to the understanding of the social aspects of land degradation, and will stimulate discussion about how to develop a more environmentally sustainable agriculture in Australia.

Contents

Introduction: Agro-Ecological Concerns in Australian Agriculture

Part A:Political Economy Perspectives on Australian Agriculture

Chapter 1: The Restructuring of Agriculture: Environmental and Social Implications

Chapter 2: Environmental Degradation in the Semi-Periphery: Problems in the Murray-Darling Basin

Chapter 3: The Search for New Technologies: Is Biotechnology the Answer to Environmental Degradation?

Chapter 4: Farmers and Scientists: What Will the Future Bring?

Part B: Agricultural Extension: The Key to Sustainability?

Chapter 5: Adoption of Environmental Management Practices: Farmers' Attitudes, Knowledge and Behaviour

Chapter 6: Farmer Rationality and the so-called Barriers to Adoption

Chapter 7: Agricultural Extension: Failures and Virtues

Chapter 8: Toward a Sociology of Contemporary Agricultural Extension

Chapter 9: Conclusion: The Environmental and Social Imperative for Australian Agriculture

References

Index