Air Date: June 7, 1991

SEGMENTS

Mexican Drive for Cash Cops / Matthew Binder

In the struggle to feed booming populations and attract export income, developing countries have increasingly turned to large-scale mechanized farming. In many cases yields have gone up, but often at a cost to the environment. In the search for what's become known as "sustainable agriculture,” many farmers are finding that old farming technologies are often more productive and less damaging than modern methods. Matthew Binder traveled to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and reports that the government is having little luck switching farmers from traditional methods of subsistence growing to modern cash crops. ()

Rediscovering Ancient Farming Technology / Bruce Gellerman

High in the Bolivian Andes, twenty thousand farmers barely survive on land that, over a thousand years ago, supported a powerful empire with a quarter of a million people. An American anthropologist believes he's uncovered the secrets to the ancient Indians' success, and has begun to reintroduce the old farming method. Bruce Gellerman reports that if successful, the reintroduction could have a significant impact on the future viability of the local culture. ()

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Mexican Drive for Cash Cops

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Rediscovering Ancient Farming Technology

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