Leading experts reveal ways that the future of food production for the world's burgeoning population can (and must) be both sustainable and ethical. In the United States, food is abundant and cheap but loaded with hidden costs to the environment, human health, animal welfare, and the people who work in our food systems. The country's current food production systems lack diversity in crops and animals and are intensified but not sustainable, inhumane in the treatment of animals, and inconsiderate of labor. In order to feed the world's rapidly growing population with high-quality, ethically produced food, new food production systems are urgently needed. These new systems must be genetically diverse and environmentally sustainable, and they need to follow internationally recognized animal welfare and labor practices. Feeding the World Well examines these costs of cheap food while presenting a unique framework for ethical food systems: the Core Ethical Commitments, which are designed to guide consumers in choosing foods that are aligned with their values while helping producers enhance the ethics of their practices and products. Edited by Alan M. Goldberg, the volume features contributions from leading ethicists and food systems experts. Addressing complex issues such as climate change, worker exploitation, obesity, antibiotic resistance, wasted food, and biotechnology, the book discusses the fundamental forces that have shaped, and will continue to shape, our food systems. It also describes some of the approaches that food companies and nonprofit organizations are using to address the ethical challenges facing these food systems. Finally, the book explains what the Core Ethical Commitments are (and what they are not), how they were developed, and how they might be used by food system actors. By bringing together an all-star group of contributors from academia and industry, Feeding the World Well sets a new course for food production and how it is evaluated. By including the voices of industry leaders alongside those of researchers and regulators, the book prepares the food production industry for a world in which "ethical" or "sustainable" production practices are not only trendy but necessary to ensure that we can feed the world's growing population. Conceived as a textbook for food studies courses, this volume will appeal to anyone who is strongly interested in food, including conscious consumers, food industry leaders, researchers, and policy makers. Contributors: Anne Barnhill, Martin W. Bloem, Jonathan Bloom, Nicole M. Civita, Claire Davis, Michiel van Dijk, Adele Douglass, Shauna Downs, Kevin Esvelt, Ruth Faden, Jessica Fanzo, Evan Fraser, Maisie Ganzler, Tara Garnett, Sara Glass, Alan M. Goldberg, Christopher Good, Meredith Kaufman, Gillian Kelleher, Frederick L. Kirschenmann, Herman B. W. M. Koëter, Jennifer Kuzma, Kees van Leeuwen, Robert Martin, Anne E. McBride, Suzanne McMillan, Tom Morley, Marion Nestle, Peter O'Driscoll, Lance B. Price, Marie Luise Rau, Bernard Rollin, Yashar Saghai, Susan A. Schneider, Ellen K. Silbergeld, Paul B. Thompson, Paul Willis, Sylvia Wulf

By the year 2050, Earth's population will double. If we continue with current farming practices, vast amounts of wilderness will be lost, millions of birds and billions of insects will die, and the public will lose billions of dollars as a consequence of environmental degradation. Clearly, there must be a better way to meet the need for increased food production. Written as part memoir, part instruction, and part contemplation, Tomorrow's Table argues that a judicious blend of two important strands of agriculture--genetic engineering and organic farming--is key to helping feed the world's growing population in an ecologically balanced manner. Pamela Ronald, a geneticist, and her husband, Raoul Adamchak, an organic farmer, take the reader inside their lives for roughly a year, allowing us to look over their shoulders so that we can see what geneticists and organic farmers actually do. The reader sees the problems that farmers face, trying to provide larger yields without resorting to expensive or environmentally hazardous chemicals, a problem that will loom larger and larger as the century progresses. They learn how organic farmers and geneticists address these problems. This book is for consumers, farmers, and policy decision makers who want to make food choices and policy that will support ecologically responsible farming practices. It is also for anyone who wants accurate information about organic farming, genetic engineering, and their potential impacts on human health and the environment.

Sustainable Food Systems from Agriculture to Industry: Improving Production and Processing addresses the principle that food supply needs of the present must be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Responding to sustainability goals requires maximum utilization of all raw materials produced and integration of activities throughout all production-to-consumption stages. This book covers production stage activities to reduce postharvest losses and increase use of by-products streams (waste), food manufacturing and beyond, presenting insights to ensure energy, water and other resources are used efficiently and environmental impacts are minimized. The book presents the latest research and advancements in efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly food production and ways they can be implemented within the food industry. Filling the knowledge gap between understanding and applying these advancements, this team of expert authors from around the globe offer both academic and industry perspectives and a real-world view of the challenges and potential solutions that exist for feeding the world in the future. The book will guide industry professionals and researchers in ways to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food systems. - Addresses why food waste recovery improves sustainability of food systems, how these issues can be adapted by the food industry, and the role of policy making in ensuring sustainable food production - Describes in detail the latest understanding of food processing, food production and waste reduction issues - Includes emerging topics, such as sustainable organic food production and computer aided process engineering - Analyzes the potential and sustainability of already commercialized processes and products

Industrial agriculture is responsible for widespread environmental degradation and undermines the pursuit of human well-being. With a projected global population of 10 billion by 2050, it is urgent for humanity to achieve a more sustainable approach to farming and food systems. This concise text offers an overview of the key issues in sustainable food production for all readers interested in the ecology and environmental impacts of agriculture. It details the ecological foundations of farming and food systems, showing how knowledge from the natural and social sciences can be used to create sustainable alternatives to the industrial production methods used today. Beginning with a discussion of the role of agriculture in human development, the primer examines how twentieth-century farming methods are environmentally and socially unsustainable, contributing to global change and perpetuating inequalities. The authors explain the principles of environmental sustainability and explore how these principles can be put into practice in agrifood systems. They emphasize the importance of human well-being and insist on the centrality of social and environmental equity and justice. Sustainable Food Production is a compelling guide to how we can improve our ability to feed each other today and preserve the ability of our planet to do so tomorrow. Appropriate for a range of courses in the natural and social sciences, it provides a comprehensive yet accessible framework for achieving agricultural sustainability in the Anthropocene.

Food Systems in an Unequal World examines regulatory risk and how it translates to and impacts farmers in Costa Rica. Ryan E. Galt shows how the food produced for domestic markets lacks regulation similar to that of export markets, creating a dangerous double standard of pesticide use.

This book is an example of a successful and excellent addition to the literature on the topic of Food Production and Industry within the scientific world. The book is divided into six chapters, consisting of selected topics in food production and consumption and food preservation. All the six chapters have been written by renowned professionals working in Food Production and Industry and related disciplines.

The U.N. predicts the Earth will have more than 9.6 billion people by 2050. With resources already scarce, how will we feed them all? Journalist Lisa Palmer has traveled the world for years, documenting the cutting-edge innovations of people and organizations on the front lines of fighting the food gap.

Faced with a global threat to food security, it is perfectly possible that society will respond, not by a dystopian disintegration, but rather by reasserting co-operative traditions. This book, by a leading expert in urban agriculture, offers a genuine solution to today’s global food crisis. By contributing more to feeding themselves, cities can allow breathing space for the rural sector to convert to more organic sustainable approaches. Biel’s approach connects with current debates about agroecology and food sovereignty, asks key questions, and proposes lines of future research. He suggests that today’s food insecurity – manifested in a regime of wildly fluctuating prices – reflects not just temporary stresses in the existing mode of production, but more profoundly the troubled process of generating a new one. He argues that the solution cannot be implemented at a merely technical or political level: the force of change can only be driven by the kind of social movements which are now daring to challenge the existing unsustainable order.Drawing on both his academic research and teaching, and 15 years’ experience as a practicing urban farmer, Biel brings a unique interdisciplinary approach to this key global issue, creating a dialogue between the physical and social sciences

Dr. Smil is the world's authority on nitrogenous fertilizer. The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the invention of the airplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television. The expansion of the world's population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today's six billion would not have been possible without the synthesis of ammonia. In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen's unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at various attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilizers. The core of the book is a detailed narrative of the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber—a discovery scientists had sought for over one hundred years—and its commercialization by Carl Bosch and the chemical company BASF. Smil also examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertilizer industry and analyzes the extent of global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process and its biospheric consequences. Finally, it looks at the role of nitrogen in civilization and, in a sad coda, describes the lives of Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch after the discovery of ammonia synthesis.