In this new edition the author brings all data and citations fully up to date. Increased coverage is given to many topics including climate change, aquaculture, financialization, BRICS countries, food-based social movements, gender and ethnic issues, critical public health and land succession. There is also greater discussion about successful cases of social change throughout all chapters, by including new text boxes that emphasize these more positive messages.
The author shows why today's global food system produces just the opposite of what it promises. The food produced under this regime is in fact exceedingly expensive. Many of these costs will be paid for in other ways or by future generations and cheap food today may mean expensive food tomorrow. By systematically assessing these costs the book delves into issues related, but not limited, to international development, national security, healthcare, industrial meat production, organic farming, corporate responsibility, government subsidies, food aid and global commodity markets. It is shown that exploding the myth of cheap food requires we have at our disposal a host of practices and policies.
Michael Carolan is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs, College of Liberal Arts, Colorado State University, USA. He is the author of several books including The Sociology of Food and Agriculture (Routledge), Cheaponomics: The High Cost of Low Prices (Routledge) and No One Eats Alone: Food as a Social Enterprise (Island Press).