Darwinian agriculture : how understanding evolution can improve agriculture.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-247) and index.

Repaying Darwin's debt to agriculture -- What do we need from agriculture? -- Evolution 101: the power of natural selection -- Darwinian agriculture's three core principles -- What won't work: tradeoff-blind biotechnology -- Selfish genes, sophisticated plants, and haphazard ecosystems -- What won't work: misguided mimicry of natural ecosystems -- What has worked: improving cooperation within species -- What could work better: cooperation between two species -- Stop evolution now! -- Learning from plants, ants, and ecosystems -- Diversity, bet-hedging, and selection among ideas.

As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. Darwinian Agriculture presents an entirely new approach to these challenges, one that draws on the principles of evolution and natural selection. R. Ford Denison shows how both biotechnology and traditional plant breeding can use Darwinian insights to identify promising routes for crop genetic improvement and avoid costly dead ends.

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