U.S. Organic Dairy Politics - Animals, Pasture, People, and Agribusiness

XX, 291 p. 9 illus.

Foreword by C.S. Sundarensan 1. Introduction: What is Organic Dairying? 2. Agricultural Revolutions: Winter Was Bleak Before Haymaking 3. USDA Organic Pasture War: Where Have All the Cow Herds Gone? 4. Animal Welfare: From Rudolf Steiner to the St. Paul Declaration 5. Stewardship in the Northwest: Dutch Stewards, Vets, and Researchers Discuss US, Canadian, and European Rules 6. Antibiotics And Health in the Northeast and Beyond: Experts on US, Canadian, and European Rules 7. Family Farms and Megadairies: Effects on Cows, Land, and Society 8. Conclusions and Outlook: Agribusiness, Coops, and Power to 2050

"Bruce Scholten's U.S. Organic Dairy Politics is an important book that should be read by all of those interested in current trends in food systems and sustainable agriculture. It provides a detailed account of the murky politics of organics in America but also opens our eyes to the subversive power of corporate interests generally. Dr Scholten's erudition on dairy issues is remarkable. His published scope includes India, Africa, Europe and now North America. He is one of the foremost experts in the field and his analysis of family dairy farming in particular deserves close attention by policy makers." - Peter Atkins, Durham University, UK, author of Liquid Materialities: A History of Milk, Science and the Law
"Moving beyond polemical debates in organics, this insightful and very readable book breaks new conceptual and empirical ground by examining the politics and emergence of US dairy organics and its co-constitutive intersections with conventional and mega-dairying. Scholten's perceptive and critical eye unflinchingly interrogates the controversial and contested behaviours of all involved in the dairy world to show an unpredictable and troubled future for dairy organics as a food category." - Richard Le Heron, University of Auckland, USA

"Bruce Scholten brings both academic and practical expertise to bear in a forensic analysis of conflict within the US dairy industry. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand how our dairy farmers are coping with the contrasting demands of government regulation, consumer concerns about food quality, animal welfare and environmental sustainability, and the farmers' need to remain competitive under harsh economic conditions." - Guy Robinson, University of South Australia

Softcover

Palgrave Macmillan US

Bruce A. Scholten is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Geography, Durham University, UK. He writes on agricultural policy for a variety of international publications, and his research focuses on the political economy of family farming and cooperatives. He grew up on a dairy farm near Lynden, Washington, USA.

English

1st ed. 2014

291