From Farming to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-Industrial Development by David Goodman, et al

Abstract

180 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE nological invention and adoption merit the attention of anyone interested in the history of American agriculture. R. Douglas Hurt Dr. Hurt, acting director of the graduate program in agricultural history and rural studies at Iowa State University, is the author of American Farm Tools: From Hand Power to Steam Power. His latest book is Indian Agriculture in America: Prehistory to the Present. Currently, he is at work on a study, designed for the layman, of technological change in 20th-century American agriculture. From Farming to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-Industrial Development. By David Goodman, Bernardo Sorj, and John Wilkinson. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1987. Pp. vii + 214; tables, bibliography, index. $39.95. The distinction between agricultural and industrial activities, rou­ tinely made as far back as the 17th century and before, rests on Lhe idea that agriculture primarily involves natural processes, while industry is essentially an artifact. With the widespread application of “industrial” methods to farming in the later 19th century—involving power sources, use of fertilizers, drainage, and factory processing— commentators began to think in terms of the industrialization of agricultural production, and this line of thought has intensified up to the present day. However, most of these accounts direct their atten­ tion squarely to production techniques and technical innovations such as high-yielding varieties and large-scale indoor livestock husbandry, or to the industrialization and internationalization of processing and marketing structures. From Farming to Biotechnology is notable for the manner in which it synthesizes into a coherent whole the agricultural, industrial, techni­ cal, and biological conditions governing developments in the produc­ tion and consumption of food and raw materials hitherto thought to be essentially “agricultural” in nature. The authors organized their account according to two key words: appropriationism, which draws agricultural processes increasingly under the sway of industrial struc­ tures, modifying perhaps, but not disposing of, their traditional biological character; and substitutionism, in which industrialized pro­ duction does away with the original natural origin of the products involved. The “theory of development” they put forward essentially turns on these two ideas. If, for example, we consider livestock as a source of meat, dairy products, pet food, eggs, fats, bone, and leather, we can conceive of the industrialization of the original agricultural production process as involving commercial indoor livestock husbandry dependent on in­ dustrial derivatives for fodder and synthetic food supplements for enhanced productivity, together with mechanized slaughtering and TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 181 packaging and the development of preservation techniques that enable the transport of finished product halfway around the world and storage over extended periods of time. But however sophisticated this industrialization process might be, it still depends on the life cycle and biological needs of animals, just as the production of grain crops ultimately rests on the timeworn cycle from seed corn to harvest. Industrial substitutionism bypasses this and seeks to fabricate its product in a more direct fashion. This began with materials like Bakelite (substituting for wood and iron) and nylon (substituting for silk and cotton). It has moved through the creation of fertilizer from coal and gas feedstocks to the fabrication of fermented protein as a foodstuff generated out of any old carbohydrate residue. Both of these elements are, of course, familiar to those interested in agricultural development and the technologies of food processing, but what is so useful about this book is the way that the industrial processes relating to artificial fertilizers, synthetic textiles, and food additives are treated as part of the same general story, which is in turn linked to the development of mechanization in agriculture, canning, and refrigeration. A coherent account of the technological evolution of the agro-food system thus becomes possible. In closing, the authors point out the political and economicconsequences for the international economy. On the one hand, the advances of substitutionism in industrialized countries marginalize Third World producers of basic crops such as rice, sugar, and sisal. On the other hand, the ability of biotechnologies to employ a whole range of carbohydrate feedstocks represents a potential market for producers of cassava or potatoes. The new technologies will certainly change the rural landscape of Europe and North America; the...