Global History of Organic Farming - Hardcover

by Gregory A. Barton (Author)

Organic farming is a major global movement that is changing land-use and consumer habits around the world. This book tells the untold story of how the organic farming movement nearly faltered after an initial flurry of scientific interest and popular support. Drawing on newly-unearthed
archives, Barton argues that organic farming first gained popularity in an imperial milieu before shifting to the left of the political spectrum after decolonization and served as a crucial middle stage of environmentalism.

Modern organic protocols developed in British India under the guidance of Sir Albert Howard before spreading throughout parts of the British Empire, Europe, and the USA through the advocacy of his many followers and his second wife Louise. Organic farming advocates before and during World War II
challenged the industrialization of agriculture and its reliance on chemical fertilizers. They came tantalizingly close to influencing government policy. The decolonization of the British Empire, the success of industrial agriculture, and the purging of holistic ideas from medicine side-lined
organic farming advocates who were viewed increasingly as cranks and kooks. Organic farming advocates continued to spread their anti-chemical farming message through a small community that deeply influenced Rachel Carson's ideas in Silent Spring, a book that helped to legitimize anti-chemical
concerns.

The organic farming movement re-entered the scientific mainstream in the 1980s only with the reluctant backing of government policy. It has continued to grow in popularity ever since and explains why organic farming continues to inspire those who seek to align agriculture and health.

Author Biography

Gregory A. Barton is a noted historian of British, world, and environmental history. He is Professor of History at Western Sydney University and the University of Johannesburg, and is the author of Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism, Lord Palmeston and the Empire of Trade, and Informal Empire and the Rise of One World Culture.