Incorporating health and ecologic costs into agricultural production.

Incorporating health and ecologic costs into agricultural production.

McWilliams explored the injustices of migratory farm labor in California. Yet his description of the rural California landscape at that time captures the essential characteristics of the predominant form of agricultural production in the United States today: Travelers along the highways pass through orchards that seem literally mea-sureless and gaze upon vast tracts of farm land stretching away...

Ingredients for Good Health Policy-Making: Incorporating Power and Politics into the Mix

Agricultural health and safety: incorporating the worker perspective.

This commentary offers a worker's perspective on agricultural health and safety and describes (1) the historical exemption of agriculture from regulatory oversight and barriers encountered due to lack of regulations and poor enforcement of the existing standards; (2) the effect of immigration status on worker protections; and (3) the basic desire for economic survival and how this impacts worke...

Agricultural production systems and environmental health.

By the turn of the century, American farmers and ranchers will be producing food and fiber through the application of highly sophisticated systems that involve a broad spectrum of relevant factors--from soil type, to options for fertilizer and pesticide use, to markets and other economic information. These systems will help farmers and ranchers better match land use to land capability, apply ne...

External Costs of Agricultural Production in the United States

Agricultural production affects environmental and human health. Many consequences are borne involuntarily rather than chosen because no formal market trading takes place for ecosystem functions or health attributes. These impacts, or externalities, may be quantified indirectly by assigning dollar values through a process called valuation, which informs agricultural production and policy decisio...