Produced by the Social Science Agricultural (and Rural) Agenda Project, this volume comprises papers commissioned for conferences in 1987 and 1988, the agenda and strategy statements developed at the latter conference, and later papers commissioned to fill specific gaps. The volume is in five parts: general introduction; introduction to domestic farm, agribusiness, and consumer work and all international agricultural development work; the four driving forces for development; three crosscutting concerns; and administration and funding. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested that the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council (NRC) convene a panel of experts to examine whether publicly funded agricultural research has influenced the structure of U.S. agriculture and, if so, how. The Committee to Review the Role of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research on the Structure of U.S. Agriculture was asked to assess the role of public-sector agricultural research on changes in the size and numbers of farms, with particular emphasis on the evolution of very-large-scale operations.

Taking Complexity Seriously applies the advanced policy analysis technique of triangulation to what is now the world's most complex public policy challenge: sustainable development. One central problem of public policy analysis has been to find new ways of analyzing issues of increasing complexity and uncertainty. Triangulation is perhaps the best example of these novel techniques, as it uses various methods, databases, theories, and approaches to converge on what to do about the complex issue in question. Taking Complexity Seriously uses four different theoretical approaches (Girardian economics, cultural theory, critical theory, and the local justice framework) to triangulation in order to converge on answers to four major policy questions: What is sustainable development? Why is it an issue? What needs to be done? What can actually be done? These four approaches are used to analyze the sustainable development controversy that recently arose in the pages of Science magazine and the journal Ecological Applications. These different approaches prove highly potent in defamiliarizing conventional wisdom about sustainable development. Ultimately the different approaches will converge on novel answers to the four questions. The practical implications of these conclusions are drawn out at the end of Taking Complexity Seriously in a detailed case study of ecosystem management.

A collection of four essays and responses on the topics of: (1) Managerial decision making; (2) Investment-Disinvestment Theory; (3) Agricultural policy (domestic and international); and (4) Methodology and valuational processes.