Breaking the Cycle: Creating a Sustainable Agricultural System

• Main Author: Stacey Stearns
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems 2020-05-01
• Series: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
• Subjects: Farm Policy; Industrial Agriculture; Sustainable Food; Climate Change and Agriculture; Sustainable Agriculture
• Online Access: http://foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/823

First paragraph: Agriculture is currently on an unsustainable cycle created by the industrial food system. Breaking that cycle and creating a sustainable agriculture system will not be easy and requires dramatically altering the food system framework. In Defense of Farmers: The Future of Agriculture in the Shadow of Corporate Power, edited by Jane W. Gibson and Sara E. Alexander, examines parts of the history of industrial agriculture, the current situation, and a potential future. The book would be valuable for food system leaders, policy makers and in graduate seminars. Analyses of industrial agriculture examples in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Bolivia are included in the book. Each highlights unsustainable methods and suggests improvements that could serve as a starting point for dialogues and decisions on changing the food system framework. . . .