Food, Energy, and Society

Book Description

In this completely revised and updated edition of the most authoritative book on world hunger, three of our foremost experts on food and agriculture expose and explode the myths that prevent us from effectively addressing the problem. Drawing on and distilling the extensive research of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First), Lappé, Collins, and Rosset examine head-on the policies and politics that have kept hungry people from feeding themselves around the world, in both Third and First World countries, as well as the misconceptions that have obscured our own national, social, and humanitarian interests. Written in a straightforward, easy-to-read style, World Hunger: Twelve Myths shakes many tenaciously held beliefs; but most important, it convinces readers that by standing together with the hungry we can advance not only humanitarian interests, but our own well-being.

Customer Reviews:

This book can be used as a fertilizer.......2006-06-19

A friend of me, who lives in Europe, lent this book to me, some months ago.I'm an agronomist and I live in Brazil.As an agronomist, I found this book so bad, that I didn't read all of it.
On chapter 5, this book claims that "Green Revolution" wasn't an answer.In fact the "Green Revolution" gave food fo billions of people in the world.Today, because of modern agronomy there's more per capita food than any other time in world history.
On chapter 7, this book is against free market, as a good solution.Well even recognizing the failures of free market, I should tell you that any other possiblity is far worse.We must remember that Lenin, Stalin,Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung killed more than 100,000,000 people, by hungry.And any of these marxist was using "free market" to produce all this famine.
In fact,modern agronomy ( mecanization, fertilizers, bigger farms, transgenic seeds,etc.) gave to the mankind better and cheaper food.
Another fact is that old agriculture produces food at a very high price and low quality also.If we return to agriculture from about 100 years ago, the majority of world population will be sentenced to death by famine.
Claiming absurds about agriculture, this book can be used as a fertilizer.

"Famines are not natural disasters,but social disasters".......2005-09-09

This book is only 270 pages including about 75 pages of notes and references and tries to cover a massive issue.Not only is the solution to hunger a huge problem but is different all over the world,even different issues within a single country or area.Therefore it will require the wisdom of Methusala and the strength of Goliath to make inroads.
The world abounds in theories and agendas of how to end hunger and all efforts are hampered by power structures,politics and on top of all that,injustice.
The authors tackle what they claim are generally accepted myths about hunger.They are:
1 There's Simply Not Enough Food.
2 Nature's to Blame.
3 Too Many Mouths to Feed.
4 Food vs. Our Enviroment.
5 The Green Revolution is the Answer.
6 Justice vs.Production.
7 The Free Market is the Answer.
8 Free Trade is the Answer.
9 Too Hungry to Revolt.
10 More US Aid will Help The Hungry.
11 We Benefit From Their Hunger.
12 Food vs. Freedom
Overall an excellent effort to dispel many commonly accepted myths.

Invaluable, Illuminating, Empowering.......2002-09-15

World Hunger: Twelve Myths clearly identifies the root causes of hunger as stemming from inequity and lack of true democracy, dispelling entirely the common belief that inadaquate food production is to blame. In their plain spoken and positive eloquence, the authors overwhelmingly succeed in conveying otherwise dauntingly complex global social and economic dynamics that contribute to world hunger and how each must be changed to honestly address the plight of the poor.

World Hunger: 12 Myths should have a permanent home in school curricula, libraries, and in the hands of people of all ages wishing to better understand and improve the world in which they live.

An excellent resource.......2002-05-17

Over the years, many myths have emerged about the subject of world hunger. People think that if this or that should happen, hunger will disappear, and no longer will westerners have to look at pictures of starving babies in Africa. This book explodes many of those myths.

Some people think that population (or overpopulation) is the problem. Others think that there simply isn't enough food available, or that nature, with her floods and droughts, is the culprit. Still others think that the solution lies with free trade, or letting the market provide, or with the Green Revolution, with its heavy emphasis on pesticides and other chemicals. Other possibilities are that the poor are simply too hungry to revolt, or that the US should increase its stingy foreign aid budget.

The authors place the blame elsewhere. All over the world, there has been a huge concentration of land in fewer and fewer hands, forcing poor and middle-class peasants off the land (in the US, witness the decline of the family farmer). Structural adjustment programs from places like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (part of the requirements when asking for a loan) require a country to reorient its agriculture toward items that are easily exportable rather than items that can feed their people. Another requirement is the removal of internal tariffs and other barriers to the import of grain and other foodstuffs. It results in a flood of cheaper (usually American) agricultural products reaching the market, driving local farmers out of business. The countries that one thinks of when hearing "famine" actually produce enough food to feed their people. The only problem is that much of it has to go overseas to help pay the foreign debt.

This book is excellent. It presents a potentially complex subject in a clear, easy to understand manner. It contains a list of addresses to contact for more information, and is a great activism reference.

Excellent Warning Against Market Fundamentalism.......2002-04-03

This book does an excellent job of showing how despite the economic growth that has been spurred worldwide thanks to deregulation, liberalization of trade and finance, and improvements in information technology, adherence to market fundamentalism has contributed to creating stark disparities in the distribution of wealth between developed and developing nations, as well as within those nations themselves.

Nevertheless, globalization, for whatever faults it possesses, has made the people of the nations of the world feel more connected than ever (In fact, I'm writing this from Japan, where I have lived for seven years). this book sensibly points out that In order to come up with a food policy that will minimize hunger worldwide, naturally poverty must also be reined in. It seems to me that in order to significantly reduce poverty, all nations must make a fundamental shift in their foreign policy away from acting for the benefit of national interests and toward the benefits of the human race as a whole. I cannot say whether mankind is ready for such a change at this juncture.

However, The book concludes that the freedom to eke out a living (the problem of the poor) supersedes the right to accumulate unlimited wealth (the hoarding of wealth by a small number of people). While this is most certainly true, it also seemed to oversimplify the problem of disparity of income based on the very facts presented in the book. While the book did denounce communist regimes at one point in the book, I felt that the conclusion of the book unneccessarily demonized wealthy individuals and major companies and called the proletariat of the world to unite.

Book Description

While fertility rates in the post-industrial world have fallen below replacement levels, the birth rate and survival rates in the developing world are escalating rapidly. Changes in agricultural technology, food production and consumption patterns, as well as the global economic system itself, have created an unstable food production system worldwide.

Population and Food examines trends in food production and assesses the prospects for feeding humanity into the 21st Century. Synthesizing a mass of statistical data and a wealth of case material, this book suggests that food production in most world regions has kept ahead of population growth. Considering likely future trends in climate, land resources, water availability, farm imputs and technnological innovation, the author argues that in all probability the people of the world will be better fed in the 21st than in the 20th Century.

Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth

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An excellent history of population and agriculture.

Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth
Lloyd T. Evans
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521646855

Book Description

At the current rate of increase, the world's population is likely to reach ten billion by the middle of the twenty-first century. What will be the challenges posed by feeding this population and how can they be addressed? Written to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Malthus' seminal Essay on the Principle of Population, this fascinating book looks at the intimate links between population growth and agricultural innovation over the past 10,000 years, illustrating how the evolution of agriculture has both shaped and been shaped by the course of world population growth. This historical context serves to illuminate our present position and to aid understanding of possible future paths to food security for the planet. This volume is a unique and accessible account that will be of interest to a wide audience concerned with global population, food supply, agricultural development, environmental degradation and resource depletion.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent history of population and agriculture........1999-09-10

This work is an efficient survey of agriculture and its relation to population growth through history. The chapters are designed to focus on population growth through time. For example chapter 2 is: Reaching for 5 million ( to 8000BC); chapter 3 is: Towards 50 million ( 8000-2000BC); chapter 4 is: The first half-billion ( 2000BC-1500AD); chapter 5 is: Towards the first billion (1500-1825) etc. Under each heading is a discussion of the critical agricultural developments during that time period. The last chapter focuses on the problems of feeding 10 billion people in the future.The research is detailed and knowledgable. The sources are modern and uptodate. The writing is precise. It is an excellent book that covers a lot of ground in a small compass. Highly recommended.

The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America's Food Supply

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Exceptional Topic, Decent Content, Just OK Writing
Same, same, but different..
Read Fast Food Nation and Portrait of a Burger first
The Meat You Eat by Ken Midkiff
Problems and solutions to agribusiness as a whole

The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America's Food Supply
Ken Midkiff
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312325363
Release Date: 2005-10-13

Book Description

The Meat You Eat exposes the risks corporations are taking with the health of people, animals, the environment, and the quality of rural life through the mass-production of meat, milk, eggs, and fish. These companies are endangering the lives of consumers and the quality of our food supply in the name of productivity and profit. Rather than advocate a vegan or vegetarian diet, author Ken Midkiff argues that using and supporting local farmers will improve our quality of life, as well as the animals whose meat we eat. Complete with resource sections about finding local farmers and lists of agribusiness players, The Meat You Eat encourages us to take an active interest in what we put on our plates and in our mouths.

Customer Reviews:

Exceptional Topic, Decent Content, Just OK Writing.......2006-12-29

The Meat You Eat is a book that had to be written. It is a quick reading book on the dangers of "corporate farming" and how corporate farming affects the surrounding areas, the community, the environment, the workplace, the animals, and America's food supply.

The book addresses the commonplace corporate farm and how they provide food from birth to the grocery store. The book discusses "Big Pig", "Big Chicken and Big Egg", "Big Milk", "Big Beef", and "Big Fish". I feel the author does an excellent job at the beginning of each chapter, explaining the background of each industry in an unbiased manner. The author then goes into some valid reasons as to each industries faults.

Most industries are guilty of torturing animals in one form or another, whether it be pigs fighting from being confined too closely or chickens whose feet become entangled in wire and can not move their entire lives. Some animals are not euthanized properly and proceed through the slaughterhouse before actually dying.

The author also talks about how companies monopolize an industry from fertilization of animals to processing and delivery to retailers. The result is a company that exploits the desperate and the unfortunate, whether they be farmers, townfolk, or immigrant workers. The monopolies, their power, and loopholes in the law allow these farms to pollute at will, literally driving people from their homes with little if any recourse.

I think the book does a good job of addressing the downfalls of current "big" farming methings; however, I felt this book has its shortcomings. A gifted author can describe a battlefield so vividly, the reader feels like the person next to them died in their arms. These authors can paint stunning pictures in a reader's mind without an actual photograph. This author does not posses such talent. As much as the author tries, I feel the author falls short of really making the reader feel the tortured animals pain. I think some photographs would have helped this book immensely. Also, the author seems to assume that the reader is familiar with the workings of a farms and butchering. For example, the author talks about the use of bolt guns to stun cows. I have never seen a bolt gun and have no idea what he is taking about. Again, pictures or diagrams would have helped.

I spent half my childhood in rural Wisconsin, around small farms. I've witnessed how small farms operate and work in harmony with nature, as much as a farm can. I have killed countless animals and fish for food in my life. Despite my limited knowledge of agriculture from my childhood, I really had no idea where food comes from in modern day society. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in how a cow in the pasture turns into the package of ground beef at the store. The book will probably shock some people. Personally, I found the book very informative and I am glad I read it, but it was not powerful enough for me to make changes in my life.

Same, same, but different.........2006-08-09

If you read "Fast Food Nation", you will like this book. There are similarities, but also many differences. The book refers to fish farm and gets into the economics of agricultural business. A great read.

Read Fast Food Nation and Portrait of a Burger first.......2005-05-26

If you've ever wondered how McDonald's can offer a 39 cent cheeseburger, this book will help you understand the bizarre economics that makes a cheeseburger cheaper than a bottle of water.

The author makes the case for buying meat and dairy products from small farms committed to sustainable farming practices. He succeeds with me, though I've subscribed to this view ever since reading Fast Food Nation and Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf -- so I didn't need much convincing.

I'm not sure how effective he'll be with a less friendly audience. While he brings a few effective stories and statistics to bear, he also brings the rhetoric of the stereotypical wild-eyed environmentalist (Mr. Midkiff is the Sierra Club Water Campaign director).

An example from his introduction: "Corporations care about people only to the extent that people are consumers are the corporate product...Feeding a hungry world? That is only a justification for fouling the air and water. Running family farmers out of business; ruining the economies of small towns; destroying the rural quality of life; mangling, dismembering, and maming employees; producing foods that are unsafe and unhealthy? When confronted with some of the unintended consequences of the industrial mode of production of meat, milk, and eggs, the corporate spokesman hauls out things like the following...'It is unfortuante, but it must be kept in mind that this is the way things must be done if we're going to feed the world.'"

I would have preferred less shrill rhetoric and more hard data. In my opinion, the author doesn't further his cause with his inflammatory writing style: the facts surrounding the modern meat and dairy industries are appalling enough to speak for themselves.

Having said that, this book does a fair job of describing how surprisingly cruel, environmentally destructive, and socially damaging modern techniques for raising and killing farm animals are. Even if you don't care about air and water pollution because you don't live near a slaughterhouse (I don't, either), you might be surprised at how brutal the modern system is to the workers, many of them undocumented immigrants. And even if you don't care about the cruelty associated with raising so many animals (pigs, chickens, salmon, and cows) in such close proximity, you should understand the risks associated with eating the result -- the surprising thing about people getting food poisioning from industrially raised meat is not that it happens, but that it happens so rarely.

Bottom line: we owe it to ourselves, to our families, to the workers, to the planet to spend a few more dollars and buy meat, milk, and eggs that are responsibly and sustainably raised.

The Meat You Eat by Ken Midkiff.......2004-12-07

In The Meat You Eat, Ken Midriff provides an in-depth analysis of the process of creating many animal products. Midkiff uses proven facts and precise statistics to back up his overall argument against corporate farming. Midkiff also uses many of his own detailed experiences and interviews from ordinary people. Their testimonies add validity to The Meat You Eat.
Midkiff shows how corporate farming is a danger to the environment, the economy, and the environment in a step by step structure that is easy to follow. He shows the reader that corporate farming has turned farming into a dirty big business concerned only with profit. Midkiff says that the owners of factory farms don't care about how the negative affects to the environment, workers, animals, workers, and the American consumer.
Rather than promoting vegetarianism, he advocates buying organic animal products or buying them from a small local farm. Midkiff says buying from local farmers will hurt factory farms and benefit the environment, animals, and the local farmers themselves.

Problems and solutions to agribusiness as a whole .......2004-09-16

As large meat factories and corporate processing operations take over America, so grows the need for a logical assessment of such methods, here provided by Ken Midkiff's The Meat You Eat. Midkiff is a Sierra Club Clean Water Campaign director and an expert on agribusiness and sustainable farming applications: The Meat You Eat takes a predictably hard look at the methods used by corporations to run profitable gigantic farms, applying their problems and solutions to agribusiness as a whole in an analysis of food safety.

Agricultural and Food Policy (6th Edition)

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Shame
"Policy Lite"

Agricultural and Food Policy (6th Edition)
Ronald D. Knutson , J.B. B. Penn , and Barry L. Flinchbaugh
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131718738

Book Description

Drawing on the authors' background in education and policy development, Agricultural and Food Policy, Sixth Edition provides a comprehensive treatment of domestic and international policy setting, process, options and consequences. This book goes beyond the traditional discussion of farm programs, and gets readers thinking in broader terms, by considering the many forcesâglobalization, technology, food safety, environmentâthat influence policy change. Taking an unbiased approach, this edition includes more economic theory, a new chapter on government involvement, current policy issues, and a chapter devoted to the future of agricultural and food policy. Informs readers of the most recent policy issues, such as the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, food terrorism, and budget deficits, in an objective manner. Creates an understanding of how U.S. policy affects stakeholders in other countries. Shows the importance of current WTO negotiations to policy outcomes. Gives readers a deeper understanding of the conditions leading to government involvement, the constraints on government involvement, the role of economists and the limits of economics. Explains concepts using graphs and helps readers understand the underlying theory driving policy decisions. Examines the impact of constituency groups and encourages readers to consider the future of agriculture and food policy. Those interested or involved in agricultural and food policy.

Customer Reviews:

Shame.......2003-11-02

It's a shame that these respected Agricultural Economists would allow such a poor example of a textbook to be published under their names. While there may be some meagre updates, the book is so watered down that it is probably more appropriate to a high school class than college. In addition, at 54 cents a page, its price far exceeds the price of most other quality books dealing with agriculture. A decent faculty member would never, in good conscience, require that students purchase this book.

"Policy Lite".......2003-08-11

The 4th edition of this text was a truly outstanding edition. It fit the needs of a wider vairety of courses ranging from the traditional Ag Policy course to courses focusing on the environment and rual development. Unfotunately, this is 5th edtion. If the reader wants a "CLiff-Notes" version then this is the text. It lacks the depth and breadth of a decent college textbook. The authors would have served the academic community much better by giving this watered down fifth edition a totally new title while leaving the 4th edition in print.

Book Description

Economics of Agricultural development examines the causes, severity, and effects of persistent poverty, rapid population growth, and malnutrition in developing countries. It discusses potential solutions to these problems, and considers implications of globalization for agriculture, poverty, and the environment. The authors provide a broad view of development and world food issues, on the means for utilizing agricultural surpluses to further overall economic development, and on issues related to trade and capital flows. The roles of the government and of international institutions in promoting broad-based development are also explored. Economics of Agricultural development covers topics related to sustainability of the natural resource environment, gender roles in relation to agriculture and resource use, and the importance of macroeconomic policies as related to development and trade and the success and failures of such policies and the implications for what might be done in the future to encourage more rapid agricultural and economic development.

The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming

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The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming
Tony Weis
Manufacturer: Zed Books
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1842777955
Release Date: 2007-08-21

Book Description

This book sets out some answers to the question: how can we build an ecologically sustainable and humane system of food production and distribution? The modern food economy is a paradox. Surplus 'food mountains' sit alongside global malnutrition and the developed world subsidizes its own agriculture while pressurizing the developing world to liberalize at all costs. Export competition is increasingly aggressive whilst the reliance on imports in many countries has worrying implications for food security. Family farms go out of business and dispossessed peasant farmers are driven into urban slums. The WTO's uneven application of neoliberal economics to food production is relatively new, and the consequences of mounting deficits, rising 'food miles', and social upheaval, are untested but ominous.

The Future of Food (Prospects for Tomorrow)

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The Future of Food (Prospects for Tomorrow)
Brian J. Ford
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0500280754

Book Description

Our future depends on food: it controls our health, underpins social structures, and helps dictate the political agenda. Among the crucial issues discussed in this challenging study of food by the eminent biologist Brian J. Ford are new food-borne diseases and the dietary needs of the young, the elderly, and women. He examines the complex questions of genetically modified food and provides important insights into food intolerance and life-threatening allergies, the relationship between food and culture, organic farming, the impact of climate change, and how revolutionary new foods will change the world.

Food for All: The Need for a New Agriculture

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Food for All: The Need for a New Agriculture
John Madeley
Manufacturer: Zed Books
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ASIN: 1842770195

Book Description

John Madeley offers a new approach to agricultural production and feeding the hungry. He outlines a low-external input approach, along with a re-integration of new farming practices like organic agriculture and permaculture, and a range of “green” technologies which would eventually make world agriculture a viable livelihood for farmers, providing enough food for the hungry, and safe and good-tasting for the rest of us—all without harming the environment.

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