Food Politics What Everyone Needs to Know

by Paarlberg, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780195389609
• ISBN10: 0195389603
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The politics of food is changing fast. In rich countries, obesity is now a more serious problem than hunger. Consumers once satisfied with cheap and convenient food now want food that is also safe, nutritious, fresh, and grown by local farmers using fewer chemicals. Heavily subsidized andunder-regulated commercial farmers are facing stronger push-back from environmentalists and consumer activists, and food companies are under the microscope. Meanwhile in developing countries, agricultural success in Asia has spurred income growth and dietary enrichment, but agricultural failure inAfrica has left one third of all citizens undernourished. The international markets that link these diverse regions together are subject to sudden disruption, as noted when an unexpected spike in international food prices in 2008 caused street riots in a dozen or more countries. In an easy-to-navigate, question-and-answer format, Food Politics carefully examines and explains the most important issues on today's global food landscape, including the food crisis of 2008, famines, the politics of chronic hunger, the Malthusian race between food production and population growth,international food aid, controversies surrounding "green revolution" farming, the politics of obesity, farm subsidies and trade, agriculture and the environment, agribusiness, supermarkets, food safety, fast food, slow food, organic food, local food, and genetically engineered food. Politics in each of these areas has become polarized over the past decade by conflicting claims and accusations from advocates on all sides. Paarlberg's book maps this contested terrain through the eyes of an independent scholar not afraid to unmask myths and name names. More than a few of today'sfashionable beliefs about farming and food are brought down a notch under this critical scrutiny. For those ready to have their thinking about food politics informed and also challenged, this is the book to read.

Author Biography

Robert Paarlberg is the B.F. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. A leading authority on food policy, his books include Starved for Science, Policy Reform in American Agriculture, and Fixing Farm Trade.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

An Overview of Food Politics

Food Production and Population Growth

The Politics of High Food Prices

The Politics of Chronic Hunger

The Politics of Famine

The Green Revolution Controversy

Food Aid and Food Power

The Politics of Obesity

The Politics of Farm Subsidies and Trade

Agriculture, the Environment, and Farm Animals

Agribusiness, Supermarkets, and Fast Food

Organic and Local Food

Food Safety and Genetically Engineered Food

Who Governs the World Food System?

Glossary

List of Acronyms Used in Book

Suggestions for Further reading

Index

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