Paul Roberts (1) (1961–)

This book definitely has an agenda, but was packed with interesting information about the production of food and the supply chains that keep supermarkets filled with food. And the description of a system that may be on the brink of collapse. One thing I think should have been included but was not was a discussion of how our pollinators are in danger from habitat loss, climate change, and the heavy use of pesticides. There are parts of China with such high residues of pesticides that bees are locally extinct and the farmers must hand-pollinate their fruit trees. In [b:Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis|3507618|Fruitless Fall The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis|Rowan Jacobsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388522623l/3507618._SY75_.jpg|3549288], there was an interesting discussion of how colony collapse disorder may be more of a response to shipping bees around the county to pollinate huge monocultures than an actual disease. I actually think this is at least as much of a danger to our food supply as the things discussed in the book, because while our principal cereal grains are wind-pollinated, most of our vegetable, fruit, and nut producing plants require pollinators to produce at all. Of the ones that can self-pollinate, they will do so only as a last resort and will experience a severe reduction in both yield and quantity. If a reduction in meat consumption (as advocated by this book) is to be at all successful, we've got to get serious about protecting our pollinators. This issue needs a great deal more attention than it's gotten, and I think a book like this should have included it.

I also think some more of the issues surrounding organic agriculture should have been discussed, as well as the increasing loss of genetic diversity among our food crops and animals. The loss of pollinators and the continued loss of genetic diversity are at least as large of a threat to the current system as anything discussed in the book, but they weren't discussed at all. That's not to say the issues described in the book aren't serious, because they are, but simply that there are even more problems that are every bit as serious in the long run that also need to be discussed.… (more)