Yearbook of Agriculture. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1936- . Nontechnical, practical discussion of a different topic each year: crops, insects, rural living, and more.
Hurt, R. Douglas.American Agriculture: A Brief History. Iowa State University Press, 1994. Traces the major political, economic, social, scientific, and technological changes in U.S. farming.
Kimbrel, Andrew.Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Foundation for Deep Ecology, 2002. A collection of essays that advocate for sustainable agriculture and against what the authors see as the health and environmental consequences of large-scale, industrialized agriculture.
Paladino, Catherine.One Good Apple: Growing Our Food for the Sake of the Earth. Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Illustrated treatment of the problems created by the use of pesticides and the benefits of organic farming. For middle-school readers.
Peter Collin Publishing Staff.Dictionary of Agriculture. Peter Collin, 1997. Covers everything from farm equipment to livestock breeds, crop varieties, pesticides, and farm construction.
Peacock, James; Trevor Williams; and John H. Holden.Genes, Crops and the Environment. Cambridge University Press, 1993. Crop genetics and the need to conserve genetic diversity.
Stewart, B. A., and D. R. Nielsen.Irrigation of Agricultural Crops. American Society of Agronomy, 1990. Focus on conservation and effects on the environment.
Pest control
Bohmont, Bert L.Standard Pesticide User's Guide. Prentice Hall, 1996. Choosing, mixing, and applying pesticides, with information on regulations and safety.
Winston, Mark L.Nature Wars: People vs. Pests. Harvard University Press, 1997. Overview of the war on pests and the need to change from a philosophy of eradication to one of control.
Charman, Andrew.Earth (First Starts). Raintree/Steck Vaughn, 1994. An introduction for younger readers to surface processes, emphasizing soil environments; color photographs.
Cherrington, Mark.Degradation of the Land. Chelsea House, 1992. Explores the problem of land degradation, explaining how such processes occur and their resultant effects; for younger readers.
Lavies, Bianca.Compost Critters. Dutton, 1993. For younger readers, a look at the many life forms nourished by a compost heap during the course of a year; stunning close-up photography.