How We Got to Where We Are
Cook Explores the Past and Present of Agribusiness
A review of Christopher D. Cook's book, "Diet for a Dead Planet."
If you think you understand the full measure of today's problems with our industrial food system because you've read Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation" and Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma," think again.
While Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press) covers much of the same territory as Schlosser's and Pollan's books, Cook's work provides a much more in-depth and long-range historical perspective into how our agricultural system developed as it did.
Divided into three main sections, "Diet for a Dead Planet" opens with an exploration of now-familiar material: the heavy use of pesticides, growth hormones and other chemicals in modern farming; the ever-growing dominance of a handful of corporations in food production, processing and sales; the emergence of bird flu and mad-cow disease; the rising health costs of a modern diet heavy with high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt and highly processed foods.
From there, however, Cook retreats to reveal, starting with the earliest days of the U.S. republic, how we came to this state of affairs. It's a fascinating examination of agricultural history, and one that dispels many of the near-utopian myths we've grown accustomed to hearing about the "good ol' days" of hard-scrabble settlers who tamed a wilderness into acre upon acre of productive "Little House on the Prairie" farmland.
"Of course, farmers had their advocates, most notably Thomas Jefferson, who idealized the 'yeoman farmer' ... Jefferson linked giving free land to small farmers, and taxing estates, with egalitarian democratic development. Ultimately, however, Alexander Hamilton's free-market agenda, which promoted land speculation and ownership for the highest bidder, prevailed, despite the periodic interruptions of homestead policies."
Cook proceeds to follow the evolution of American agriculture throught the acquisition of millions of acres of farmland by railroad companies in the 1800s, the Granger movement that pitted farmers and labor against railroad monopolies, the "Golden Age of American Agriculture" during the World War I years of high food demand, the subsequent disasters of Dust Bowl and Depression, and the emergence of the modern agribusiness model following World War II. By the time Cook comes around to the more well-known incidents of recent agricultural history (including Nixon-era agriculture secretary Earl Butz's infamous exhortation to farmers: "Get big or get out."), readers will have a deeper, richer appreciation for the politics, power grabs and profit-seeking that contributed to the state of agricultural affairs some would claim is simply the natural result of a fair and equal-opportunity "free-market" economy.
The third and final section of "Diet for a Dead Planet" tackles the modern problems taking place on today's farms and processing plants: the toxic chemicals that go in, the poisoned runoff and effluents that flow out, the labor that pours through an ever-revolving door of low pay, harsh conditions and outright abuse, and the big-money government subsidies that favor the "haves" of global corporations over the "have-nots," whether at home or abroad.
Cook ends with a brief litany of reasons for hope: the expansion of organic and sustainable farming, the growing public opposition to genetically modified foods, consumers' increasing taste for fair-trade goods and farmers' markets, and the widening "farm-to-cafeteria" movement. And for readers who want to help move such efforts along, Cook provides an ample appendix of consumer protection, social justice, environment and other organizations working in these directions.
Ultimately, Cook's work delivers an eye-opening and insightful look at the unseen forces, past and present, driving modern agriculture. It's a book that deserves a place on the bookshelf of any consumer who wants to make better, healthier, more sustainable and more informed food choices.
