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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent balance on seven agricultural crises
Review: Agriculture confronts the new century with challenges as demanding as those that shaped its turbulent course through the Twentieth Century. Today's agricultural interests are converging with those of rural communities and agribusinesses. Stewardship is now a joint enterprise with suburban residents. This book provides an excellent balance of perspeticves on seven crises as well as insights to cooperative solutions.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent balance on seven agricultural crises
Review: Agriculture confronts the new century with challenges as demanding as those that shaped its turbulent course through the Twentieth Century. Today's agricultural interests are converging with those of rural communities and agribusinesses. Stewardship is now a joint enterprise with suburban residents. This book provides an excellent balance of perspeticves on seven crises as well as insights to cooperative solutions.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reference for current American Agriculture
Review: Dr. Hoag has produced an excellent reference handbook on current American Agriculture. Chapters 3 - 7 make the book a useful shelf reference for most scientists, economists, sociologists, and political scientists working in agriculture. There are 56 exhibits (tables, graphs, lists) covering the seven major topics of Ag. Policy, 18 biographical sketches, and chapters on organizations, print resources, glossary and internet sites. These are backed by hundreds of references tracking to the original materials, continually updated government and web sources. It provides the most useful compact shelf reference on American Agricultural Policy that I know up. Chapter 1 provides an excellent, readable, short (60 pages) introduction to current American Ag. Policy issues. Chapter 2 provides a good 20 page history of American Agriculture. These chapters provide excellent material for a short (2 week) section on agriculture in an advance High School or early college course in economics, political science, or history. The later chapters provide reference for papers on the seven crisis that Dr. Hoag identifies. One note is a number of typos that should have been picked in the review process. None are significant, and a new reader in the field may not notice any. Since most of the data changes quickly (the book uses data as of 9/97), I hope for a second version within two years. I also did not see any reference to a co-author, B. McEwan. My copy was obtained from the National Ag. Libary with a 1999 copyright. Perhaps the Amazon.com 2000 edition is a second edition, which incorporates the new NRI and Ag. Census numbers. In that case, change my rating from 4 stars to 5.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference for current American Agriculture
Review: Dr. Hoag has produced an excellent reference handbook on current American Agriculture. Chapters 3 - 7 make the book a useful shelf reference for most scientists, economists, sociologists, and political scientists working in agriculture. There are 56 exhibits (tables, graphs, lists) covering the seven major topics of Ag. Policy, 18 biographical sketches, and chapters on organizations, print resources, glossary and internet sites. These are backed by hundreds of references tracking to the original materials, continually updated government and web sources. It provides the most useful compact shelf reference on American Agricultural Policy that I know up. Chapter 1 provides an excellent, readable, short (60 pages) introduction to current American Ag. Policy issues. Chapter 2 provides a good 20 page history of American Agriculture. These chapters provide excellent material for a short (2 week) section on agriculture in an advance High School or early college course in economics, political science, or history. The later chapters provide reference for papers on the seven crisis that Dr. Hoag identifies. One note is a number of typos that should have been picked in the review process. None are significant, and a new reader in the field may not notice any. Since most of the data changes quickly (the book uses data as of 9/97), I hope for a second version within two years. I also did not see any reference to a co-author, B. McEwan. My copy was obtained from the National Ag. Libary with a 1999 copyright. Perhaps the Amazon.com 2000 edition is a second edition, which incorporates the new NRI and Ag. Census numbers. In that case, change my rating from 4 stars to 5.
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