Agriculture has today faded into the background for many who live in highly urban advanced economies. This disconnection has led popular accounts to often remain stuck in the past, based on a vision of the bucolic life of a farmer and their family that probably never existed. Modern agriculture bears little resemblance to this romanticized image. Instead, it is now the province of large corporations who produce commodities for a global market using advanced technology.

How did agriculture get this way? The answer many economists are quick to note is the rapid technological changes that occurred beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing on through the twentieth century. But, which ones were most important? While visually salient mechanical innovations are part of the story, much progress was the result of biological innovations. Indeed our understanding of the role of biological innovation in crop productivity gains has grown considerably in recent years (Olmstead and Rhode, Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). Yet, the importance of biological innovation in animals is less well understood. Derry's Art and Science in Breeding documents the remarkable progress achieved in chicken breeding, a little written about area of biotechnology. Derry's book helps to redress the imbalance and in doing so makes an important contribution.

Lacking the paper trail left by patents a historian of biotechnology must call upon a broad range of sources and expertise to simply understand what the innovations were, let alone where they came from or their economic impact. Fortunately for the reader, Derry is up to the task. Combining painstaking scholarship with a nuanced understanding of biotechnology, Art and Science in Breeding represents an impressive achievement.

Beginning with an account of chicken breeding in the early days, Derry explains how fowl were not initially bred as a source of food but instead for their cock fighting prowess and appearance. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, poultry had become an important food source because chickens could be kept in the confined spaces available in cities. Craft breeding in Britain and America began with adopting Bakewellian horse breeding methods to develop chicken breeding systems. Many famous varieties were developed and fowl became a more important source of food.

The core of the book concerns the relationship between craft breeders and scientists, and how their interactions shaped the development of chicken breeding. A particular focus is on the impact that early twentieth century breakthroughs in scientific knowledge of genetics had on established practices of chicken breeding. At the time, craft breeding methods did not draw on the theoretical underpinnings of genetic science. Craft breeders used their tacit knowledge to develop breeding systems, such as Felch's system of inbreeding, to breed better chickens. When scientists began to really understand genetics the potential for a sea change in breeding methods was palpable.

Art and Science in Breeding concludes however that scientific understanding of genetics played a relatively minor role in the development of chicken breeding. Derry argues that the traditional breeding selection strategies used by craft breeders turned out to be surprisingly similar to those put forward by geneticists. So what did scientific knowledge of genetics bring? Derry argues that scientific knowledge of genetics brought sophisticated quantification that allowed breeders to test selection methods and pinpoint how desired traits were inherited. In effect, the scientific understanding of genetics simply brought the scientific method to chicken breeding. The major changes in the industry, such as the emergence of the specialized hatcheries for egg production and broilers for meat production, are more likely a result of mechanical innovations or changes in complementary factors.

One of the purposes of economic history is to not only learn about the past but provide lessons for the present. If there is one critique of the book, it is that it missed an opportunity to say something more forceful. With policymakers questioning whether public funding for academic research is worthwhile, a stronger conclusion of what we learn from that research would have been valuable. At the end of the day the reader is left with the impression that research by academics and breeders were close substitutes and greater progress could have been achieved if academics had a better understanding of craft breeding earlier on. Thus, a policy implication that academics should get out of the ivory tower more often seems to be warranted. Of course, a tighter policy takeaway is likely too much to ask of a book that covers so much new territory, and so well.

Anyone interested in agriculture, biotechnology, or both, should read this excellent book.