Abstract This article offers a critical re-examination of Early Modern migrations to Ireland and their effect on farming practices, c.1580–1660. During after the English conquest Ireland, tens eventually hundreds thousands settlers arrived from Britain. Focusing Munster lesser extent Ulster, I argue they were not greeted with an agricultural tabula rasa ripe for ‘improvement’. In contrast what ...

Rice paddies are artificial wetlands that supply people with food and provide wildlife with habitats, breeding areas, shelters, feeding grounds and other services, and rice paddies play an important part in agricultural ecological systems. However, modern agricultural practices with large-scale intensive farming have significantly accelerated the homogenization of the paddy field ecosystem. Mod...

Modern industrialized agriculture is based on monocultures of annual crops requiring massive levels of biocide, fertilizer, and fossil fuel inputs. This form ofagriculture has led to soil erosion and chemical contamination ofsoil and ground water. The Land Institute is studying a new modelfor grain agriculture, based on the prairie ecosystem, involving diversified plantings ofperennial seed cro...