'The End Of Plenty: The Race to Feed A Crowded World' Summary of the book
'Fifty years ago, as many as one out of every three people lived in hunger. Today, the figure is about one in eight-the biggest, fastest increase in human well-being in history. Now, though, agricultural scientists and economists increasingly fear that this great accomplishment is at risk. Simply put, the world's agricultural systems may not be able to provide enough food for the nine or ten billion people who will be alive in 2050, Joel Bourne, a farmer's son himself, traveled the world to explore what may be the greatest challenge facing the next generation. The result is calm, lucid-and fascinating? - CHARLES C. MANN, author of 1491 and 1493, judge of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award 2012
AN AWARD-WINNING ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALIST INTRODUCES A NEW GENERATION OF FARMERS AND SCIENTISTS ON THE FRONTLINES OF THE NEXT GREEN REVOLUTION.
When Malthus famously outlined the brutal relationship between food and population, he never imagined the success of modern agriculture. New seeds, chemicals and irrigation, coupled with free trade, drove the greatest global population boom in history-but left ecological devastation and an unsustainable agro-economics in their wake. Now, with a greater number of mouths to feed than ever before, tightening global food supplies have spurred riots and reform around the world. Who feeds them and how matters more than ever. Spanning ideas as diverse as the Green Revolution in Punjab, ancient Chinese aquaculture, traditions and small-scale sustainable farming in Malawi, The End of Plenty is a wake-up call for anyone concerned with what the coming decades will hold for our planet and our diet if we don't take action now. CONTENTS PARTI Introduction. The Erstwhile Agronomist........................3 1. The Curse.......................... 23 2. Famine's Lethal Lessons ...........................39 3. The Green Revolution: Food, Sex, and War ...........................55 4. The plight of the Punjab............................... 77 5. China: Landraces and Lamborghinis ............................99 6 Food, Fuel, and Profit 121 7. The Gauntlet ...............................145 PART II 8. The Blue Revolution............................... 165 9. Back in the USSR .................................183 10. The Blooming Desert ................................203 11. Magic Seeds: Feeding Shareholders or the World?....................223 12. Organic Agriculture: Feeding the Rich or Enriching the Poor? .................................247 13. The Malawi Miracle ..............................273 14. The Grand Desiderata ...............................299 Acknowledgments ...............................319 Notes ...............................321 Selected Bibliography ...........................379 Illustration Credits ................................393 Index .............................395
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