Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development - An Appreciation and Research Agenda

Reference Type:
Journal Article

Secondary Title:

Series Title:

Author(s):
Atack, Jeremy
Coclanis, Peter A.
Grantham, George

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Series Author(s):

Year Published:
2009

Date Published:

Journal Name:
Explorations in Economic History

Volume Number:
46

Issue Number:
1

Start Page Number:
160-7

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Edition:

Series Volume:

Publisher:

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ISSN/ISBN:

DOI:
10.1016/j.eeh.2008.11.001

PMCID:

NIHMSID:

Reference ID:
3922

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Abstract:

In their new book, Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development (Cambridge, 2008), Olmstead and Rhode offer a radically new interpretation of American agricultural development from the late 18th to early 20th century. While earlier scholars have ascribed a central role to mechanization, Olmstead and Rhode argue that dramatic biological gains were made by an army of improving farmers responding to the challenges of insect pests, biological pathogens, new soils and movement into new climatic zones. These gains remained largely hidden because of the way most statistics have been presented and discussed. By teasing out these advances from the historical record, Olmstead and Rhode not only challenge interpretations about the nature of agricultural development in the United States but also open up a whole new research agenda that promises to revitalize the field of agricultural history here and elsewhere.

Keyword(s):
Population and Environment

URL:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2008.11.001

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Citation:

Atack, Jeremy; Coclanis, Peter A.; & Grantham, George. (2009). Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development - An Appreciation and Research Agenda. Explorations in Economic History, 46(1), 160-7.