Under The Blade: The Conversion Of Agricultural Landscapes

"Under the Blade: The Conversion of Agricultural Landscapes" examines the patterns, causes, and consequences of current land use decisions in the United States, particularly the conversion of farmland to housing, roads, and other development. Changes in land use are the result of complex interactions among law, economics, landscape characteristics, social and political forces, ethics, and aesthetics. By examining farmland loss from each of these perspectives, and then integrating the results into policy recommendations, "Under the Blade" makes an important contribution to the ongoing debate on the optimal use of a finite resource--land.

Richard K. Olson is a researcher with the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The editor of five other books addressing human impacts on envrionment, he is currently examining ways to relocalize agriculture and increase local food security. Thomas A. Lyson is a professor in the Department of Rural Sociology, Cornell University. He also serves as director of the Farming Alternatives Program at Cornell, and as editor of Rural Sociology.