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Rural life in North America has changed dramatically since the days of the family farm, when people worked the same land for generations, let their cows graze in pastures and their chickens scratch in dirt, and sold their produce locally. The few remaining small farmers now struggle to survive, strangled by debt and a rash of complex regulations designed to drive them out of business. In their place are corporate-backed factory farms with little understanding of, or sympathy for, rural life. But the corporate and political interests determined to make this life extinct are meeting with fierce resistance. In this passionate and persuasive book, writer and farmer Thomas Pawlick uses his own rural community as a microcosm for the battle between industrial agriculture and local farming — a clash whose outcome will determine the future of rural life in North America — and also the quality and sustainability of our food, water, soil, and air.
Price: $14.99
Pages: 320
Publisher: Greystone Books
Imprint: Greystone Books
Publication Date:
01 October 2009
ISBN: 9781926812328
Format: eBook
Thomas F. Pawlick has more than thirty-five years of experience as a journalist and editor, specializing in science, environmental, and agricultural reporting. He is a three-time winner of the Canadian Science Writers' Association Award and received a National Magazine Award for his agricultural reporting. Pawlick is the author of three books, including the best-selling Greystone title The End of Food. He served six years as chief editor of Ceres magazine, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's flagship publication. He currently lives on a 150-acre farm in eastern Ontario.
Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Great Dying
Our rural world, in nearly every country on the planet, is in severe danger of extinction.
Chapter 2: How It Used to Be
Traditional farmers were in tune with each other, their community, and their environment.
Chapter 3: Great Expectations
Factory farmers look to mass production for salvation, but reality doesn't match the dream.
Chapter 4: The Insurgents and the Surge
Not everyone buys the corporate/government line, and when they don't all hell can break loose.
Chapter 5: Unwanted in Eden
The marketing board system, like the road to Hell, is paved with good intentions.
Chapter 6: What's Yours Is Mine
Miners and speculators see bonanzas underground, but those whose land they take see disaster.
Chapter 7: Since Time Immemorial
The Mohawk confront and the Algonquin outmanoeuver as they fight to save a way of life.
Chapter 8: None of Your Business(es)
Corporate power and government regulations combine to strangle small rural business.
Chapter 9: A Missing of Minds
Gunning for trouble along the confusing frontier of the urban and rural mindsets.
Chapter 10: A Wider Alliance
Who can force a rewriting of the badly skewed rules of the game?
Chapter 11: Following up, Learning More
A resources section: where to go to make your voice heard and learn more about the issues
Our rural world, in nearly every country on the planet, is in severe danger of extinction.
Chapter 2: How It Used to Be
Traditional farmers were in tune with each other, their community, and their environment.
Chapter 3: Great Expectations
Factory farmers look to mass production for salvation, but reality doesn't match the dream.
Chapter 4: The Insurgents and the Surge
Not everyone buys the corporate/government line, and when they don't all hell can break loose.
Chapter 5: Unwanted in Eden
The marketing board system, like the road to Hell, is paved with good intentions.
Chapter 6: What's Yours Is Mine
Miners and speculators see bonanzas underground, but those whose land they take see disaster.
Chapter 7: Since Time Immemorial
The Mohawk confront and the Algonquin outmanoeuver as they fight to save a way of life.
Chapter 8: None of Your Business(es)
Corporate power and government regulations combine to strangle small rural business.
Chapter 9: A Missing of Minds
Gunning for trouble along the confusing frontier of the urban and rural mindsets.
Chapter 10: A Wider Alliance
Who can force a rewriting of the badly skewed rules of the game?
Chapter 11: Following up, Learning More
A resources section: where to go to make your voice heard and learn more about the issues