Farmbrarian

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Joel Salatin is the famed owner of Polyface Farms located in Virginia and widely featured in the sustainable agriculture movement.  Author Michael Pollan featured Polyface in his best-selling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which contrasted Salatin’s idyllic method of agriculture with more industrial, less earth-friendly agribusiness; and the documentaries Fresh and Food, Inc. also spotlight Polyface Farms.

In Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal (2007), as you might guess, Salatin spells out his frustration with the government (occasionally referred to as the “chicken police”) over issues such as raw milk, custom beef, salmonella, farmer’s markets, organic certification, taxes and plenty more.

Readers will discover the many legal challenges Salatin faces as a result of laws designed for large agribusinesses that catch his small farm in an all-encompassing net.  For example, large dairy operations are required, and happy, to pasteurize their milk for safety reasons.  The mandate is a result of over-crowded, mis-fed and antibiotic filled cows, which are incomparable to Polyface’s small, pasture-raised herd.  Even though his milk doesn’t need to be pasteurized for the sake of its consumers, his farm (and many others just like it) receive no exemption from the law.

The book raises awareness of the many barriers that impede sustainable farming efforts. Understanding the obstacles faced by our small farmers is critical to the survival of the sustainable agriculture movement.

Quotes:

• “The system thinks we’re a successful culture because we have more prisoners in America than farmers” (XV).
• “[Farming] is not just a business, it is a sacred calling…serving people who seek truth and are willing to travel dirt roads to get it” (59).
• “A democracy that worships money and power is no better than a socialist society that holds the same values” (230).
• “Unless and until government policy encourages a local food chain, America’s food chain will be increasingly vulnerable to bioterrorism” (266).
• “If you want to know what good food is, as a rule of thumb, whatever was available in 1900 is probably okay” (322).

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“First make sure that your husband is doing the kind of work he enjoys and is best fitted for and then cheerfully accept whatever it entails.” –Mother

And thus begins the hilarious tale of Betty MacDonald as she recounts her time on the rugged coast of the Pacific Northwest where her husband decides to build his chicken ranch.

The Egg and I was originally published in 1945 and soared to stardom shortly thereafter.   The memoir provides readers with an entertaining glimpse into the joys, hardships and harrowing adventures of rural living before modern conveniences like electricity and running water.

Vary rarely will you find a story about farming that is as witty, captivating and beautifully written as The Egg and I. However, the book will appeal more to a female audience.

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How can we feed 9.5 billion people by 2070?  Paul Roberts explores this multi-faceted dilemma in his book The End of Food (2009).

The development of the modern, international food system, contemporary farming methods and challenges, and a heavy dose of politics are a few of the topics covered.  Roberts offers a fair balance of viewpoints and presents information in a very digestible format.

Despite walking away with a better understanding of the problems, the players involved, and the steps that are being taken towards improvement, I feel that the book lacks focus and would benefit greatly from better cohesion.

The End of Food is not written to provide the solution, but rather to educate readers on the problem.  Roberts achieves this goal and has therefore provided a useful book in the endless battle to improve our ailing food system.

Read this book if:

• You want good background information on the formation of our current food economy.
• You are interested in food politics (US farm subsidies, the roles/actions of mega-corporations, global considerations, etc.).

Quotes:

• “I think a lot of people would enjoy being farmers, but somehow, as a society we’ve decided that farming is inappropriate” (250).
• “According to surveys by Delate, organic-corn yields in Iowa are now between 90 and 92 percent of conventional yields, while soybeans are at 94 percent” (251).
• “Consumers wishing to avoid transgenic foods cannot, because the industry has successfully blocked any requirement that transgenic crops be labeled – despite surveys showing that nine out of ten consumers want such labels” (256).

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Jane Goodall is a scientist, scholar, activist and humanitarian best known for her research on chimpanzees. In Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating (2005), Goodall collaborates with Gary McAvoy and Gail Hudson to illustrate how our eating habits impact the world.

Goodall begins with a short discussion on the fundamental role of food in our lives. She moves on to discuss harsh treatments on factory farms, hazardous fishing techniques, the benefits of vegetarianism, the plight of family farmers and the local foods movement. Issues surrounding obesity, hunger and education are also discussed. Most chapters conclude with simple suggestions on how you can help.

The content is thoroughly researched but is not laden with scientific terminology or complex data, making it approachable for all readers. Plus, anecdotes throughout give the scholarly work a more personal feel.

Harvest for Hope is a perfect primer for those wanting to learn about the environmental impact of our current food system. For readers well versed in the arguments against conventional agriculture, not much new information is presented; nonetheless, it is still a worthwhile read.

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David Mas Masumoto’s 1995 book Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm won the Julia Child Cookbook Award for literary food writing; was a nominee in the writing on food category of the James Beard Foundation Awards; and received the San Francisco Chronicle’s Critics Choice Award. The praise is well deserved.

Epitaph for a Peach is a yearlong account of life on Masumoto’s family farm as he tries to find a market for his Sun Crest peaches. Through stories of his own attempts, Masumoto gives readers an inside look into the many challenges and rewards of sustainable farming. You’ll read about cover crops, the art of pruning trees, the purpose of a porch, forgotten fruit varieties, strong family ties, and much more. The story is eloquent and intimate, reading like an inner monologue of Masumoto’s thoughts as he roams his fields. You won’t find another like this one.

The folks at Point Reyes Books, located on the Northern California coast in Marin County, recommended the book. Like Masumoto, the store is committed to supporting “sustainable agriculture and living” through literature (Kinsella 18). Thanks for the recommendation!

Kinsella, B. (2006). “Peer Eye for Booksellers.” Publisher’s Weekly. 253 (14), 18-19.

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Where Our Food Comes From traces the path of Nikolay Vavilov, a Russian scientist who embarked on a mission to collect and store seeds from around the world. According to Nabhan, Vavilov was the first to fully articulate the connections between food diversity, health and food security–all of which are hot topics in agriculture and nutrition (23). Vavilov’s journey and contribution to science and agriculture was certainly profound.

The book follows Vavilov’s path, a small part of which was recently retraced by Nabhan himself. Entwined in the story is that of the WWII era communist government of the Soviet Union, which was ultimately responsible for Vavilov’s premature death, despite his extraordinary and successful efforts to preserve plants for future generations.

A clear picture of Vavilov’s life is painted, but the book reads a bit like a history lesson. Hopefully the book inspires others to continue Vavilov’s life work, however it is unlikely to provide much in the way of entertainment.

Quotes:

• “Today, America educates its rural youth to aspire to be anything but a farmer” (137).
• “[Vavilov is] the man who more than anyone else in history helped humankind appreciate where our food has come from” (190).

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Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet; 20^th Anniversary Edition is a very well known source of information on healthy eating for yourself, society and the planet. It is clear to me that this book influenced many current authors like Woody Tasch, Michael Pollen and Mark Winne, to name a few.

Lappé points out that people can eat a very healthy diet while eating minimal amounts of meat, if any. By eating less meat, the argument goes, we can use grain to feed the world, instead of feeding it to our livestock, which is a very inefficient use of calories. According to Lappé, the grain used to make one pound of steak could instead feed 40 people. That is a powerful statistic, albeit not one on which all sources will agree. As a part of her reduced meat diet she explains protein complementarity, which is a way of combining proteins to maximize nutritional value. This method, however, is no longer accepted as necessary by nutrition experts.

Briefly explored is the idea of power in the American democracy and the way our current set up leads to many people going without, while others become obese (from eating more protein than our bodies can even use, she says). Her arguments are well supported and clearly stated.

The last part of the book is full of recipes to support her diet plan. She presents the recipes in an approachable way that shows how simple it really can be. Also included are helpful tips on saving time and money while cooking and shopping. Though none of the recipes contain meat, Lappé is not necessarily advocating vegetarianism; she simply wants people to realize that cooking with little or no meat is easy, healthy and satisfying. If more people cooked this way our world would be much better nourished overall.

Read this book if:

• You are interested in helping our food system become more sustainable (more aligned with the earth’s natural ability to produce food).
• You want to learn to reduce your diet’s footprint on the earth.
• You have read a lot of current authors on nutrition and agriculture  and want to read a book that likely influenced them.