Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Keywords
Horticulture
·
Production
·
Environment
·
Green space
·
Society
·
Economy
·
Landscape
·
Urbanisation
·
Health
·
Welfare
·
Humanity
·
Art
·
Science
Introduction
Plants are fundamental for the existence of life on Earth. In partnership with the
microbes, plants make the Earth habitable for all other forms of life including man-
kind. The fundamental importance of plants as the base of the world's ecological
network has been recognised scientifically for the past century as described for
example by the father of their ecological study, Arthur Tansley (
1949
). These inter-
connections and interactions interlace with James Lovelock's (
2000
,
2003
) proposi-
tions in his theory of Gaia where he explores firstly the fine balances upon which
life depends and secondly the physical, chemical and biological forces and stresses
which drive evolution (see also Lenton
1998
) which is now codified in economic
terms of the costs and benefits of eco-systems analysis. This builds on Margulis
(
1999
) who describes the natural world as a unified symbiotic system. It is accepted
however, that some authors cast doubt on the extent of these interconnections (Tyr-
rell
2013
). Nonetheless, there is immense significance in the role of plants in sup-
porting all human and other life, what Dawkins (
2009
) called “The greatest show
on Earth”. Regrettably, this is not appreciated or understood by the vast majority
of people. Some academics, most notably the historian Simon Schama (
1995
) have
attempted to explore this relationship from a sociological and historic perspective.
He shows the interdependence of people and plants and the manner by which this
has resulted in many of the semi-natural landscapes which occupy much of rural
areas worldwide (Fig.
1.1
).
For particularly in the developed world there are now very few examples left of
entirely natural landscapes unaffected by the hand of man even in the wildernesses
of the Arctic and Antarctic. A prime example of the manner by which man has
moulded a landscape is described by Pryor (
2010
) in a discussion of Great Brit-
ain and the development of its rural areas from the earliest farming communities
through to “sat-nav Britain”.
Despite the daily significance of plants as an ingredient of almost any meal there
is a suspicion of plants in the general population. This phobia was vividly described
by Michael Leapman (
2000
) where he touched on the antagonisms between bota-
nists and horticulturists because of their involvement in plant hybridisation in the
18th century. More recently, it was also noticeable that even in early attempts to
engage general television audiences' interest in the biological world these largely
omitted references to plants, for example Jacob Bronowski' “The Accent of Man”
(
1973
). Encouraging an understanding and appreciation of plants as biological en-
tities among the broader population is an essential prerequisite for ensuring their
care, conservation and survival and recognition of their economic value. In this
respect the more recent work of eminent biologists and gifted communicators is
