Empty pastures : confined animals and the transformation of the rural landscape / Terence J. Centner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Centner, Terence J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agriculture--United States.

Agriculture.

Agricultural ecology--United States.

Agricultural ecology.

Agriculture--Environmental aspects--United States.

Landscape changes--United States.

Landscape changes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (207 p.)

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Ill. : University of Illinois Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Over the past century American agriculture has shifted dramatically with small, commercial farms finding it increasingly difficult to compete with large-scale (mostly indoor) animal feeding operations (AFOs). In this book, Terence J. Centner investigates the environmental, social, economic, and political impact of the rise of the so-called factory farm, exposing the ramifications of the contemporary trend toward industrial-scale food production. Just as Rachel Carson's landmark Silent Spring used the disappearance of songbirds as a jumping-off point for a work that raised public awareness of pesticides' devastating environmental impact, Empty Pastures sees the dwindling numbers of livestock in the American countryside as a symptom of a broader transformation, one with serious consequences for the rural landscape and its inhabitants--animal as well as human. After outlining the rise of the AFO, Centner examines the troubling consequences of consolidation in animal farming and suggests a number of remedies. The issues he tackles include groundwater contamination, the loss of biodiversity, animal welfare, concentrated odors and other nuisances, soil erosion, and the economic effects of the disappearance of the small family farm. Inspired by largely abandoned traditional practices rather than a radical and unrealistic vision of a return to an idealized past, Centner proposes a series of pragmatic reforms for regulating factory farms to halt ecological degradation and revitalize rural communities.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Abbreviations

1. Serenity in the Countryside

2. Changes in Agricultural Production

3. The Production of Animals

4. Concentrations of Animals and Water Pollution

5. State AFO Regulations

6. The Environment of Rural America

7. Agricultural Conservation Efforts

Illustrations follow page 102

8. Odors and Nuisance Law

9. Pesticide Contamination Precedents: Liability and Management

10. Accountability and Enforcement

11. Transformations in Food Production

12. Plowing Forward to a Cleaner Environment

Appendix 1: Regulatory Agencies for Animal Feeding Operations

Appendix 2: State CAFO Regulations

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786613155641

9781283155649

1283155648

9780252090806

0252090802

OCLC:

743203948