An old mate from Uni, Dr. Neil Barr, made it onto this list of “Ten Great Books About Agriculture” with his book on the transformation of farming communities.
Excerpt from a review in the Rural Society Journal:
“In this book, Neil Barr, Senior Social Researcher, Department of Primary Industries, Bendigo, critically examines Australian farming, with particular focus on the family farm. Having grown up in a family who tried to make a living in horticultural farming, he has first-hand experience of what farming families are going through: his book, as he states in his preface, ‘is a result of thirty years pondering over the joy, despair and paradoxes of farming life’. The family and personal successes and tragedies he chronicles are explained by social circumstances (wars, financial crises) yet are embedded in nature (drought, dust storms, floods). The combination of personal experiences (social issues) and objective reality (statistical data, figures, graphs, maps) makes The House on the Hill special. Easy to read – and of interest to people who live on the land or who plan a future in agriculture – it was written to help improve the sustainable management of land, water and vegetation. Yet it is of value for academics and students with an interest in Australian agriculture, in farming families, geography, demography, or the environment.”
It can be purchased from Booktopia, or can be found in many libraries.
