Efficiency, sufficiency, and recent change in Newfoundland subsistence horticulture
Traditional Newfoundland horticulture has been a subordinate and compensatory element of the subsistence sphere in a plural economy centered on fishing. Criticized as inefficient and ruinous to the land, this tuber-rootbrassica gardening has in fact been a valuable contribution to diet, is relatively efficient, and compensates for the inadequacies of land and weather. Field data from the Great Northern Peninsula, where some traditional practices persist, demonstrate that the practices conserve time and labor, and substitute massive applications of materials to assure a yield sufficient for household needs. The inefficiency in the tradition may be understood as a response to the constraints upon household labor and follows a kind of Leibig's law of the minimum. Recent changes in gardening practices reveal the dynamics of horticulture in the household's mixed economic strategy. As cash and land have become more common, they have been used to further reduce time while maintaining sufficiency.
- Research Organization:
- Anthropology Dept., State University College of Arts and Sciences, Potsdam, NY
- OSTI ID:
- 6861808
- Journal Information:
- Hum. Ecol.; (United States), Vol. 13:3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
HOUSEHOLDS
HORTICULTURE
LAND USE
NEWFOUNDLAND
BRASSICA
EFFICIENCY
GARDENING
LABOR
MATERIAL SUBSTITUTION
PLANNING
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
TUBERS
AGRICULTURE
CANADA
FOOD
INDUSTRY
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
ISLANDS
NORTH AMERICA
PLANTS
VEGETABLES
290400* - Energy Planning & Policy- Energy Resources