The food system has changed considerably in the last century. Horsepower was replaced by machine, better crop breeding programs helped usher in the Green Revolution, and problems of malnutrition began to run parallel with those of obesity. Despite changes, many of the problems we face remain the same. Farms continue to lose soil, and low income households still have difficulty acquiring healthy food. Add to these challenges a host of new ones. Globalization has caused some agricultural communities to feel threatened. Everyone recognizes problems of malnutrition, obesity and food sustainability, but many disagree on solutions. One thing is certain: confronting both familiar and new challenges will lead to radical changes in the food system. Though the exact form of radical change is unknown, this book looks to a host of candidates by interviewing the people who champion them. We are winning the battle against soil erosion through new no-till farming methods. Progress is being made in food sustainability by a spectrum of new innovations, but also a return to traditional farming techniques. New innovations include robots on the farm, advances in molecular biology, and alternative protein sources. As we embrace the farming strategies of our ancestors, we see farms returning to polycultures, local food systems, and food sovereignty. This book gains insight from interviews with twenty-seven individuals who are either creating or proposing radical changes in how food is produced and distributed. An eclectic group ranging from farmers to activists to spiritual gurus, they are the most interesting people you have never met. By getting to know each "radical" personally we can better access their voices and visions to understand both the problems and likely solutions to today's most pressing food problems.

For much of human history, most of the population lived and worked on farms but today, information about livestock is more likely to come from children's books than hands-on experience. When romanticized notions of an agrarian lifestyle meet with the realities of the modern industrial farm, the result is often a plea for a return to antiquated production methods. The result is a brewing controversy between animal activist groups, farmers, and consumers that is currently being played out in ballot boxes, courtrooms, and in the grocery store. Where is one to turn for advice when deciding whether to pay double the price for cage-free eggs, or in determining how to vote on ballot initiates seeking to ban practices such as the use of gestation crates in pork production or battery cage egg production? At present, there is no clear answer. What is missing from the animal welfare debate is an objective approach that can integrate the writings of biologists and philosophers, while providing a sound and logical basis for determining the consequences of farm animal welfare policies. What is missing in the debate? Economics.
This book journeys from the earliest days of animal domestication to modern industrial farms. Delving into questions of ethics and animal sentience, the authors use data from ingenious consumers' experiments conducted with real food, real money, and real animals to compare the costs and benefits of improving animal care. They show how the economic approach to animal welfare raises new questions and ethical conundrums, as well as providing unique and counter-intuitive results.

The public is more interested in agricultural and food issues than ever before, as is evident in the many agricultural controversies debated in the media. Why is it that some people embrace new agricultural technologies while others steadfastly defend traditional farming methods? Why do some prefer to buy food grown around the world while others patronize small, local farmers? In the debates about organic food, genetically modified organisms, and farm animal welfare, it is not always clear what the scientific literature actually says. To understand these controversies, the authors encourage readers to develop first an appreciation for why two equally intelligent and well-intentioned people can form radically different notions about food. Sometimes the disputes are scientific in nature, and sometimes they arise from conflicting ethical views. This book confronts the most controversial issues in agriculture by first explaining the principles of both sides of the debate, and then guiding readers through the scientific literature so that they may form their own educated opinions. Is food safe if the farm used pesticides, or are organic foods truly better for your health? Are chemical fertilizers sustainable, or are we producing cheap food today at the expense of future generations? What foods should we eat to have a smaller carbon footprint? Is genetically-modified food the key to global food security, and does it give corporations too much market power? Is the prevalence of corn throughout the food system the result of farm subsidies? Does buying local food stimulate the local economy? Why are so many farm animals raised indoors, and should antibiotics be given to livestock? These are the issues addressed in Agricultural and Food Controversies: What Everyone Needs to Know. While it doesn't claim to have all the answers, it provides a synthesis of research and popular opinions on both sides of these important issues, allowing readers to decide what they value and believe for themselves.

After decades of persecution by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Old Believers devise a clandestine plot to usurp Catherine the Great and install their own tsar. In the eyes of Nikolai, a covert Old Believer priest, Rolan seems the ideal replacement. Not only does Rolan subscribe to the Old Believer's version of Christianity, but he is the secret illegitimate son of the Russian empress. Matrona embodies the spirit of the people Rolan is asked to save. She is born into serfdom, and when she escapes from her master she finds prostitution to be her only means of survival. Although her aspirations involve little more than mothering four children as a free person, she finds herself the inspiration of the Old Believer rebellion-and a target of the oppressive Russian government. Rolan and Matrona are the hope of a new Russia. After centuries of serfdom, the Old Believer rebellion is an opportunity to unite Russia under a system of equality, religious tolerance, and economic opportunity. Or, could the rebellion simply result in a change in power, with the Old Believers escaping their chains only to bind the hands of others? Matrona's Four Children is a historical tale of religious, political, and economic possibilities. Journey into the holiness of the human soul to witness the union of some and the division of others. Understand how societies create wealth through voluntary, free exchange and how that wealth can be enhanced or destroyed at the hand of politics. Listen to the sounds of social harmony and discord, both in the narrative and in the original music at the beginning of select chapters.