I’m finishing up my AS in Agriculture degree with this semester and the fall semester to go. This semester I’m taking the last of my agriculture classes: AGR215 (Soils) and AGR297 (Global Agriculture). It’s the second class, the capstone class of the degree, that’s sparked the inspiration for this post. At the end of each chapter of the book, the author provides additional reading. And as a book hoarder, okay book addict, I’m adding them to an Amazon Wish List because they sound like fascinating reading.
The two textbooks for this class are The World Food Economy and Agriculture in World History. I’m not sure the first book would be very helpful for fictional agriculture world building. There’s a lot of talk, and the author clearly has his own political and economic bent about things, and a very dismissive “we’re not going to cover that here, because it’s not important” attitude. It’s fascinating, because I’m a geek, but definitely with an agenda to push.
It’s the second book that I am absolutely in love with. As it talks about world history, it’s a great way to dive into the agricultural history, not just of protoagricultural (aka hunter/gatherer) societies, but also different cultures and how they worked with ag. You can tell I’m still geeking out a bit, can’t you
The good news is that while there are some books on the list that are pricey and probably out of the budget of most fantasy authors, quite a few of them can be had for under $20 on the used market. And, while I am not a tax person, nor do I play one on television, usually research materials for books you sell could be considered a legitimate tax deductible business expense. (Check with your professional first, PLEASE!) If you’re writing in a specific historical culture or time period (or both!), then you might find this list interesting. Feel free to bookmark it, as I’ll be adding to it as we go through the book. We will be going through the entire book by the time the semester ends in mid-May.
I hope you enjoy this list as much as I do.
Since moving to the Ozarks in 2013, Mary's embraced her inner farm girl and worked her love of animals (especially horses) into her writing fantasy and women's literature. The Fantasy Farmer Podcast combines her love of farming with speculative fiction and author education to help authors with the care and feeding of their rural protagonists. 
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