Foodopoly : the battle over the future of food and farming in America

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Title:

Foodopoly : the battle over the future of food and farming in America

Author:

Hauter, Wenonah

ISBN:

9781595587909

Publication Information:

New York : New Press ; [Jackson, TN] : Distributed by Perseus Distribution, 2012.

Physical Description:

xii, 355 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Contents:

Pt. I. Farm and food policy run amok. Get those boys off the farm! -- pt. II. Consolidating every link in the food chain. The junk food pushers -- Walmarting the food chain -- pt. III. The produce and organics industries : putting profits before people. The green giant doesn't live in California anymore -- Organic food : the paradox -- pt. IV. Deregulating food safety. Poisoning people -- Animals on drugs -- pt. V. The story of factory farms. Cowboys versus meatpackers : the last roundup -- Hogging the profits -- Modern-day serfs -- Milking the system -- pt. VI. Corporate control of the gene pool : the theft of life. Life for sale : the birth of life science companies -- David versus Goliath -- The future of food : science fiction or nature? -- pt. VII. Building the political power to challenge the foodopoly. Eat and act your politics -- The way forward.

Subject Term:

Food supply -- United States.

Agricultural industries -- United States.

Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- United States.

Summary:

Through meticulous research, Hauter presents a shocking account of how agricultural policy has been hijacked by lobbyists, driving out independent farmers and food processors in favor of the likes of Cargill, Tyson, Kraft, and ConAgra. She demonstrates how the impacts ripple far and wide, from economic stagnation in rural communities at home, to famines in poor countries overseas. In the end, Hauter illustrates how solving this crisis will require a complete structural shift, a grassroots movement to reshape our food system from seed to table, a change that is about politics, not just personal choice.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	338.1973 HAU	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"A meticulously researched tour de force" on politics, big agriculture, and the need to go beyond farmers' markets to find fixes ( Publishers Weekly ).

Wenonah Hauter owns an organic family farm that provides healthy vegetables to hundreds of families as part of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. Yet, as a leading healthy-food advocate, Hauter believes that the local food movement is not enough to solve America's food crisis and the public health debacle it has created. In Foodopoly , she takes aim at the real culprit: the control of food production by a handful of large corporations--backed by political clout--that prevents farmers from raising healthy crops and limits the choices people can make in the grocery store.

Blending history, reporting, and a deep understanding of farming and food production, Foodopoly is a shocking, revealing account of the business behind the meat, vegetables, grains, and milk most Americans eat every day, including some of our favorite and most respected organic and health-conscious brands. Hauter also pulls the curtain back from the little-understood but vital realm of agricultural policy, showing how it has been hijacked by lobbyists, driving out independent farmers and food processors in favor of the likes of Cargill, Tyson, Kraft, and ConAgra.

Foodopoly shows how the impacts ripple far and wide, from economic stagnation in rural communities to famines overseas, and argues that solving this crisis will require a complete structural shift--a change that is about politics, not just personal choice.

Author Notes

Wenonah Hauter is the executive director of Food & Water Watch, a D.C.-based watchdog organization focused on corporate and government accountability relating to food, water, and common resources. She has worked and written extensively on food, water, energy, and environmental issues at the national, state, and local levels. She owns a working farm in The Plains, Virginia.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In a meticulously researched tour de force, Hauter, the executive director of Food & Water Watch, examines the pernicious effects of consolidation in every sector of the food industry. Not only has deregulation and the weakening of antitrust laws led to a significant reduction of competition, it has failed to allow the consumer to benefit from the economies of scale achieved by larger production facilities. More dangerous for our democracy, Hauter argues, the surviving firms have used their wealth to capture the political system in order to rewrite the regulations for their benefit. They have persuaded governments to subsidize their irrigation costs with publicly funded water projects; successfully pushed for the enactment of the Cuban sugar tariff, which directly led to high-fructose corn syrup becoming the sweetener of choice; and weakened oversight by federal bureaucracies, preventing the FDA from testing meat for contamination before and during processing. In fact, Hauter suggests, the FDA is no longer capable of enforcing its regulations at all and must resort to persuasion and, at times, begging. Though alarming, Hauter's argument is undermined by her resort to the suggestion of conspiracy on occasion. Overall, though, the book deserves a place on the shelf beside the burgeoning journalistic explorations of the dangers of the current system. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

A forceful argument about our dysfunctional food system. Hauter, the executive director of Food Water Watch, has gathered statistics and stories to back her argument that the United States is in a food crisis, caused by government deregulation and by consolidation and control of the food supply by a small number of powerful corporations. Inadequate regulation of the food industry, she writes, has led to the poisoning of people and the dangerous overuse of antibiotics in animals. After a bit of history on farm policy, Hauter examines the consolidation of the food chain from crop seeds to retail stores, dotting the text with bold graphics that depict the extent of the power of leading corporations. To inform readers of the direness of the situation and to arouse their indignation, she reveals the cruelty to animals and the pollution of the environment that is part and parcel of the factory farming of cattle, hogs and chickens; she challenges the biotechnology advances that have led to the genetic modification of food crops; and she exposes large-company practices that are changing the organic food industry. She calls for the mobilization of a grass-roots movement to bring about the changes that she argues are essential to making the country's food system economically and ecologically sound. Hauter urges the movement that has been promoting local, sustainable food production to expand, to join with other progressives, and to become political activists and fight for the reinstatement and enforcement of antitrust laws that will enable midsize farms to once again flourish. While the text can be wordy and repetitive, the author's message is clear, and the graphics pack a punch that hammers it home.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Part I Farm and Food Policy Run Amok	p. 9
1 Get Those Boys Off the Farm!	p. 11
Part II Consolidating Every Link in the Food Chain	p. 39
2 The Junk Food Pushers	p. 44
3 Walmarting the Food Chain	p. 62
Part III The Produce and Organics Industries: Putting Profits Before People	p. 79
4 The Green Giant Doesn't Live in California Anymore	p. 81
5 Organic Food: The Paradox	p. 98
Part IV Deregulating Food Safety	p. 117
6 Poisoning People	p. 119
7 Animals on Drugs	p. 136
Part V The Story of Factory Farms	p. 153
8 Cowboys Versus Meatpackers: The Last Roundup	p. 155
9 Hogging the Profits	p. 170
10 Modern-Day Serfs	p. 191
11 Milking the System	p. 211
Part VI Corporate Control of the Gene Pool: The Theft of Life	p. 227
12 Life for Sale: The Birth of Life Science Companies	p. 229
13 David Versus Goliath	p. 243
14 The Future of Food: Science Fiction or Nature?	p. 264
Part VII Building the Political Power to Challenge the Foodopoly	p. 277
15 Eat and Act Your Politics	p. 279
16 The Way Forward	p. 287
Notes	p. 311
Bibliography	p. 341
Index	p. 343

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Publisher's Weekly Review

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