From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms : food, agriculture, and change in the Holland Marsh / Michael Classens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Classens, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agriculture.

Agriculture--Ontario--Holland Marsh--History.

Human geography.

Physical Description:

1 electronic resource (233 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Vancouver : UBC Press, 2021.

Summary:

Driving through the Holland Marsh one is struck immediately by the black richness of its soil. This is some of the most profitable farmland in Canada. But the small agricultural preserve just north of Toronto is a canary in a coal mine. From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms recounts the transformation, use, and protection of the Holland Marsh, exploring how human ideas about nature shape agriculture, while agriculture in turn shapes ideas about nature. Drawing on interviews, media accounts, and archival data, Michael Classens concludes that celebrations of the Marsh as the quintessential example of peri-urban food sustainability and farmland protection have been too hasty. Instead, he demonstrates how capitalism and liberalism have fashioned and ultimately imperilled agriculture in the area. This fascinating case study reveals the contradictions and deficiencies of contemporary farmland preservation paradigms, highlighting the challenges of forging a more socially just and ecologically rational food system.

Contents:

Foreword by Graeme WynnIntroduction1 Building Boundaries2 Cultural, Commercial, and Constitutional Fishing3 This Land Is My Land - It Can't Be Your Land4 Water Rights and Water Powers5 Pulp and Paper: From Emergence to Emergency6 Bacterial Waterways7 Levelling the Lake8 Power Struggles9 Economy and Ecology10 We Are All in This Together11 "Slowly to the Rescue as a Community Fails"12 Lumbering towards Sustainability13 Fishing Contests14 "For Water Knows No Borders"Conclusion: Finding the WatershedNotes; Suggested Readings; Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780774866750

0774866756

9780774866774

0774866772

9780774865487

0774865482

OCLC:

1260688845