A single seed is more than just the promise of a plant. In rural south India, seeds represent diverging paths toward a sustainable livelihood. Development programs and global agribusiness promote genetically modified seeds and organic certification as a path toward more sustainable cotton production, but these solutions mask a complex web of economic, social, political, and ecological issues that may have consequences as dire as death. In Cultivating Knowledge anthropologist Andrew Flachs shows how rural farmers come to plant genetically modified or certified organic cotton, sometimes during moments of agrarian crisis. Interweaving ethnographic detail, discussions of ecological knowledge, and deep history, Flachs uncovers the unintended consequences of new technologies, which offer great benefits to some—but at others’ expense. Flachs shows that farmers do not make simple cost-benefit analyses when evaluating new technologies and options. Their evaluation of development is a complex and shifting calculation of social meaning, performance, economics, and personal aspiration. Only by understanding this complicated nexus can we begin to understand sustainable agriculture. By comparing the experiences of farmers engaged with these mutually exclusive visions for the future of agriculture, Cultivating Knowledge investigates the human responses to global agrarian change. It illuminates the local impact of global changes: the slow, persistent dangers of pesticides, inequalities in rural life, the aspirations of people who grow fibers sent around the world, the place of ecological knowledge in modern agriculture, and even the complex threat of suicide. It all begins with a seed.

Provides a comprehensive overview of the role of cotton in the economy and cotton production around the world This book offers a complete look at the world’s largest fiber crop: cotton. It examines its effect on the global economy—its uses and products, harvesting and processing, as well as the major challenges and their solutions, recent trends, and modern technologies involved in worldwide production of cotton. Cotton Production presents recent developments achieved by major cotton producing regions around the world, including China, India, USA, Pakistan, Turkey and Europe, South America, Central Asia, and Australia. In addition to origin and history, it discusses the recent advances in management practices, as well as the agronomic challenges and the solutions in the major cotton producing areas of the world. Keeping a focus on global context, the book provides sufficient details regarding the management of cotton crops. These details are not limited to the choice of cultivar, soil management, fertilizer and water management, pest control, cotton harvesting, and processing. The first book to cover all aspects of cotton production in a global context Details the role of cotton in the economy, the uses and products of cotton, and its harvesting and processing Discusses the current state of cotton management practices and issues within and around the world’s cotton producing areas Provides insight into the ways to improve cotton productivity in order to keep pace with the growing needs of an increasing population Cotton Production is an essential book for students taking courses in agronomy and cropping systems as well as a reference for agricultural advisors, extension specialists, and professionals throughout the industry.

WINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZE • A Pulitzer Prize finalist that's as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist. “Masterly … An astonishing achievement.” —The New York Times The empire of cotton was, from the beginning, a fulcrum of constant global struggle between slaves and planters, merchants and statesmen, workers and factory owners. Sven Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities that are with us today. In a remarkably brief period, European entrepreneurs and powerful politicians recast the world’s most significant manufacturing industry, combining imperial expansion and slave labor with new machines and wage workers to make and remake global capitalism.