In this revised and updated edition of a 2002 book, Erik Millstone, Professor of Science Policy at the University of Sussex, and Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University in London, report on the state of global food and agriculture. Part One outlines a set of contemporary challenges including problematic features of the food system. Part Two looks at farming around the world with commentary on machinery, fossil fuels, and agrochemicals. Part Three examines international trade in food and the imbalance between farmers in rich countries and those in poorer ones. Part Four covers food processing, retailing, consumption, and consumers.
Here are some of the more interesting facts reported in this paperback that also has five color illustrations, 41 maps and two tables:
• Food prices around the world — both local and imported products — rose by nearly 40 percent in 2007 due to the financial markets, environmental conditions, and policy decisions.
• More than enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world, and yet more than 850 million people do not get enough food to lead active and healthy lives.
• Around 1.8 million deaths a year are caused by diarrhea, largely contracted from consuming contaminated food or water.
• In 2007, 25,000 people marched across India demanding land on which to live and grow food, and highlighting how rural people without formal legal land deeds suffer the worst poverty rates.
• Around 800 million city dwellers worldwide use their agricultural skills to feed themselves and their families.
• 540 food additives compounds are deemed safe for human consumption by regulatory bodies, but critics of the testing system have raised doubts about many of them.
