Perilous Bounty

Starred review from May 15, 2020
The food and agricultural correspondent for Mother Jones takes a focused look at the ecological degradation caused by industrial agriculture in the U.S. Philpott offers a view--primarily of California's Central Valley and the Midwest Corn Belt--of what the political and economic forces of corporate-dominated agriculture are contributing to the decline of the environmental resources of these two main production regions. The author is deeply invested in--and knowledgeable about--all the ins and outs of the virtual oligarchy that controls American agriculture, from the seeds to the market destinations. It's hardly surprising--though depressing nonetheless--that fewer than a dozen giant companies have so concentrated agricultural production that they have stretched resources such as natural soil fertility and freshwater resources to the point of environmental calamity. As Philpott amply illustrates, via enlightening interviews with hydrologists, geologists, soil chemists, and entomologists, the demands that corn/soy/meat culture have put on the Corn Belt, as well as the water burden of the industries of the Central Valley, are not only unsustainable, but likely catastrophic for future farming on that land. In the absence of cover crops to protect the land from increasingly severe storms, the Midwest's once-deep soil is often washed away down the Mississippi River, ending up in the Gulf of Mexico, where its fertilizer loads spawn algal blooms that transform into dead zones. Philpott is especially good in his explanations of alternative agricultural modes of production, which, for the most part, involve increasing diversity, mixing it up, and spreading it out. The author also explores the unique problems facing midsized farmers--too small for the national chains and too big for local farmers markets--and the complete overhaul of production required to break the monoculture mindset. Philpott is not optimistic about the current political landscape, with a "climate change denier" as president and crucial regulatory agencies "shot through with former oil and agribusiness industry execs and flacks." A solid, keenly drawn critique of American agricultural circumstances and consequences.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 7, 2020
Journalist Philpott debuts with an illuminating and distressing examination of how climate change and poor natural resource management threaten America’s food supply. Focusing on California’s Central Valley, where irrigated farms supply a quarter of the nation’s food, and the Midwest, which produces much of America’s meat, corn, and soybeans, Philpott documents how agribusinesses in these regions are “actively consuming the ecological foundations that support agriculture itself.” In arid California, warmer temperatures have diminished the Sierra Nevada snowpack on which Central Valley farms rely, leading to fewer crops and smaller yields. Communities in the region have also been forced to buy bottled water to avoid water supplies contaminated by farm runoff. In the former prairie lands of the Midwest, industrialized farming, genetically modified crops, and climate change have impoverished both the soil and farmers themselves. Philpott’s proposed solutions draw from organic farming methods, including crop rotation, planting cover crops to suppress weeds and reduce soil erosion, and “pasture-based meat production.” He concludes by endorsing the Green New Deal and legislative efforts to curb the excesses of agribusiness. Lucidly written, well-researched, and laced with profiles of farmers and communities fighting against the odds, this is a persuasive call for sweeping changes to the American food system.