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historical perspectives on frontier agriculture as an adaptive strategy 1
Author(s) -
MARGOLIS MAXINE
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1977.4.1.02a00030
Subject(s) - frontier , agriculture , resource (disambiguation) , adaptive strategies , natural resource economics , cash crop , economics , ecology , geography , archaeology , biology , computer science , computer network
This paper examines the ecological and economic factors which result in resource depletion on one type of agricultural frontier: those devoted to cash crops. It argues that the adaptive strategies of frontier cultivators are analogous to the “fugitive strategies” characteristic of some non‐human species. These strategies account for the exploitative nature of frontier agriculture which leads to partial resource depletion or long‐term ecological destruction.