Troubled Harvest
Agronomy and Revolution in Mexico, 1880-2002
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2841058 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan Walsh Sanderson (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 523-524 |
| Publication date | 2005-08-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182168-85-3-523 |
| OpenAlex | W2162892513 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
This is a book about agricultural development, the green revolution and its aftermath, and the role of agronomists in the history of Mexico’s rural development. Finding some-thing new to say on a topic that has received so much scholarly attention over the years is a significant achievement. Some 25 years ago, I faced the same challenge in writing my dissertation and subsequent book on Mexican land reform. Cotter’s book, also based on his dissertation, stems from a deep appreciation of Mexico and an interest in economic development and the role of technological change in the development of Mexican agriculture. The central theme is how Mexico’s extensive land reform, agricultural development policies, and the green revolution shaped the profession of agronomy from the pre-revolutionary period through 2002. The author makes extensive use of both primary and secondary resources, including the Mexican agricultural journal Agicultura, expressing the views of agronomists on the politics of rural development, and the rich records of the Rockefeller Archive Center. In attempting to understand more deeply the development of this important profession, Cottler’s book sheds new light on Mexico’s agricultural and agrarian policies and the role played by scientists and agricultural specialists in its evolution. Given the more that century-long span covered by the book, this is no simple task. Cotter presents the perspectives of the agronomists who attempted to bring more technical and scientific principles to Mexico’s crop production. During the turbulent decades following the revolution, members of the profession variously supported and opposed land redistribution. He details the efforts of the Rockefeller-sponsored scientists who spawned the green revolution and the impact of that effort, both positive and negative, on the Mexican countryside.Chapters 4 and 5 tell the story of the response to the corn and wheat shortages at the end of the Cárdenas period and the battle for public opinion over how to manage agricultural development. The backdrop for these developments is Cárdenas’s agricultural policy in the late 1930s, emphasizing land reform and agricultural development that favored smallholders. Cotter describes the initial U.S. involvement in joint pest control efforts along the border and the partnership that developed during the war years when Mexicans helped bring in the U.S. harvest under the bracero program. Subsequent public and private efforts to promote agricultural cooperation and development were stimulated by the cold war. Many Mexican agronomists studied in the United States and were influenced by U.S. agricultural technologies and practices. Moreover, Mexican public policy after Cárdenas emphasized agricultural production and low-cost food production at the expense of rural welfare. Presidents Avila Camacho, Alemán, and Ruiz Cortines were more interested in providing cheap food for urban markets than in rural development per se, and it is in this environment that the technologies of the green revolution were developed. Chapter 6 does a good job in describing the first phase of the green revolution, as scientists and agronomists focused on the development of hybrid wheat that mainly benefited farmers on irrigated land.Chapter 7 is perhaps the strongest in the book. It focuses on the aftermath of the green revolution and on the most recent attempts to balance environmental and welfare concerns with agricultural production. Cotter is at his best in summarizing the outcomes of various development experiments, both successful and unsuccessful, and in highlighting new efforts in sustainable agriculture that may point the way to the future. He briefly discusses how biotechnology may affect future efforts and therein introduces a rich topic for future scholarly research. Published posthumously, this book makes a significant contribution to the academic literature on agricultural development and may stimulate new interest on Mexico’s fascinating and unique agricultural history
Agrarian society · Agricultural revolution · Agriculture · Archaeology · Economic growth · Economic history · Economics · Green Revolution · Peasant · Political science · Politics · Theme (computing) · History · Law · Mexican Socioeconomic and Environmental Dynamics
| Citations per year | 0.44 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2021 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |