Overview

This is a feisty, scrupulously-researched deconstruction of the eat local ethos - and how it distracts us from solving serious global food issues. Today's food activists think that sustainable farming and eating local are the way to solve a host of perceived problems with our modern food supply system. But after a thorough review of the evidence, Pierre Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu have concluded that these claims are mistaken. In The Locavore's Dilemma , they explain the history, science and economics of food supply to reveal what locavores miss or misunderstand: the real environmental impacts of agricultural production; the drudgery of subsistence farming; and the essential role large-scale, industrial producers play in making food more available, varied, affordable and nutritionally rich than ever before in history. They show how eliminating agriculture subsidies and opening up international trade, not reducing food miles, is the real route to sustainability; and why eating globally, not only locally, is the way to save the planet.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pierre Desrochers ,  Hiroko Shimizu
Publisher:   The Perseus Books Group
Imprint:   PublicAffairs,U.S.
Dimensions:   Width: 16.30cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 24.30cm
Weight:   0.494kg
ISBN:  

9781586489403

ISBN 10:   1586489402
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   21 June 2012
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Reviews

<p> In large parts of the world, local trumps science, and people suffer as a result.... Desrochers and Shimizu take the idea of local food to the back of the barn and beat the holy livin' tar out of it. In a more rational world, their defense of what is so clearly true would not be needed. However, our world is not rational, and most of what passes for thinking about food is as full of air as an elegant French pastry. --from the Foreword by Blake Hurst, president, Missouri Farm Bureau<br><br> Desrochers and Shimizu demonstrate that the debate over food miles is a distraction from the real issues that confront global food production. --Ronald Bailey, Reason.com<br><br> Desrochers ... is the scholar's scholar. In an age where few read all important material on all sides of their subject, this professor stands out. --MasterResource.org<br><br> Desrochers ... delivers a serious warning to the fetishization of local agriculture as the magic bullet that will solve our food problems. --Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, sspp.proquest.com<br>

<p>from the Foreword by Blake Hurst, president, Missouri Farm Bureau<br> In large parts of the world, local trumps science, and people suffer as a result.... Desrochers and Shimizu take the idea of local food to the back of the barn and beat the holy livin' tar out of it. In a more rational world, their defense of what is so clearly true would not be needed. However, our world is not rational, and most of what passes for thinking about food is as full of air as an elegant French pastry. <br><br>Ronald Bailey, Reason.com<br> Desrochers and Shimizu demonstrate that the debate over food miles is a distraction from the real issues that confront global food production. <br><br>MasterResource.org<br> Desrochers ... is the scholar's scholar. In an age where few read all important material on all sides of their subject, this professor stands out. <br><br>Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, sspp.proquest.com<br> Desrochers ... delivers a serious warning to the fetishization of local agriculture as the magic bullet that will solve our food problems. Bookloons There is plenty of food for thought in this unconventional, provocative look at how we should go about feeding the masses. The authors...make some very interesting points and raise concerns that must be addressed. NATURE Magazine<br> The book's strength lies in the cheerful ruthlessness with which the authors chal-lenge sloppy thinking, special pleading and the lazy logic that assumes that 'local' must be 'best' <p> Spiked.com <br> The Locavore's Dilemma is an ideal weapon in countering the enormous quantities of metaphorical organic manure that pass for evidence in the modern debate about food.

<p>from the Foreword by Blake Hurst, president, Missouri Farm Bureau<br> In large parts of the world, local trumps science, and people suffer as a result.... Desrochers and Shimizu take the idea of local food to the back of the barn and beat the holy livin' tar out of it. In a more rational world, their defense of what is so clearly true would not be needed. However, our world is not rational, and most of what passes for thinking about food is as full of air as an elegant French pastry. <br><br>Ronald Bailey, Reason.com<br> Desrochers and Shimizu demonstrate that the debate over food miles is a distraction from the real issues that confront global food production. <br><br>MasterResource.org<br> Desrochers ... is the scholar's scholar. In an age where few read all important material on all sides of their subject, this professor stands out. <br><br>Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, sspp.proquest.com<br> Desrochers ... delivers a serious warning to the fetishization of local agriculture as the magic bullet that will solve our food problems. <p> Bookloons There is plenty of food for thought in this unconventional, provocative look at how we should go about feeding the masses. The authors...make some very interesting points and raise concerns that must be addressed. NATURE Magazine<br> The book's strength lies in the cheerful ruthlessness with which the authors chal-lenge sloppy thinking, special pleading and the lazy logic that assumes that 'local' must be 'best' <p>

Author Information

Pierre Desrochers is an associate professor of geography at the University of Toronto who writes frequently on economic development, globalization, energy and transportation issues. He was a senior research fellow at Duke University Center for the History of Political Economy. Hiroko Shimizu majored in Chinese history at Gakushin University and holds a master's of public policy from the University of Osaka. Desrochers and Shimizu have both been research fellows at the Property and Environmental Research Center in Bozeman, Montana, and te Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions