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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms

Food, Agriculture, and Change in the Holland Marsh

A revealing look at how farmland has been shaped, and ultimately imperiled, by liberal notions of progress and nature. 
 
The Holland Marsh, a small agricultural preserve just north of Toronto, boasts some of the richest farmland in Canada. In From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms, Michael Classens argues that the reclaimed wetland, often celebrated as an exemplar of modern food sustainability efforts, actually reveals how capitalist ideas about the natural world imperil agriculture. Supported by original interviews and archival research, this study teases out the inherent contradictions of contemporary farmland conservation paradigms and highlights the key obstacles facing a more socially and ecologically just food system.
 

233 pages | 40 halftones, 3 maps, 3 charts | 6 x 9 | © 2021

History: Environmental History


Reviews

"As a case study of human–land interaction and our ability to shape our environment according to our own perceptions of what we want and need from it, this book is worth reading. As a cautionary tale about what the consequences of those decisions might be, it is must-read."

Culinary Historians of Canada

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