One of the most persistent and startling news stories of the past
year has been the global crisis in the world's food supply. Reduced
stockpiles have led to panic buying and hoarding, a sharp rise in
prices, food riots, the virtual collapse of portions of the food
industry, and dire warnings about food and water shortages. The
U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast prices to remain high
for the foreseeable future, and the World Bank has predicted that
this rise will push an additional 100 million people into poverty
around the world. Theories about the roots of the crisis are many,
diverse and contradictory: from increased production of biofuels,
to rising populations, climate change, and environmentally harmful
and inefficient farming practices. In Food Politics: What Everyone
Needs to Know, Robert Paarlberg, one of the most prominent scholars
writing on agricultural issues, maps out and demystifies the
phenomena that newspapers and magazines have variously labelled as
causes of the food crisis, often in highly alarmist tones. Over the
course of the book, Paarlberg addresses, in straightforward terms,
questions about global food trade policy, agricultural subsidies,
the factors contributing to famine and malnutrition, the green
revolution, the effects of climate change on farming, the pros and
cons of biofuels, food safety and regulation, pesticide use,
organic farming, and genetically modified crops. Focusing on the
world's most vulnerable populations and couched within a firm
historical understanding of farming practices, nutritional
standards, and food movements, what he uncovers will surely be
surprising to many readers and stand as a corrective to reactionary
takes on the state of global agriculture. Paarlberg concludes with
a revealing chapter on common assumptions about the food crisis and
the future of food, pointing the way toward socially and
environmentally sustainable-and attainable-practices in agriculture
and the wider food industry.
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