*Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution.  Jennifer Cockrall-King (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; freelance journalist; www.foodgirl.ca).  Amherst NY: Prometheus Books, Feb 2012, 355p, $21pb (also as e-book for 11.99).  There’s just a three-day supply of food available for any given city due to complex, just-in-time international supply chains.  The system is not only vulnerable but also environmentally unsustainable for the long term.  Examines alternative food systems in cities worldwide—London (gardeners grow on some 30,000allotment plots), Paris, Russia (65% of Moscow households grow some of their own food), Vancouver (promoting edible landscaping), Toronto, Los Angeles (supporting 100 schoolyard food gardens), Milwaukee, Detroit (Hantz Frms will be “the world’s largest urban farm”), Chicago, New York (now home to two major rooftop farms), and Cuba (“urban agriculture on a national scale”)-- that are shortening their food chains, growing food within city limits, and taking  “food security” in their own hands.  Growing spaces in the cities include rooftops, backyards, vacant lots, along roadways, and even in “vertical farms” reusing industrial buildings and derelict inner-city lots.  [NOTE: A fascinating and upbeat tour of many exciting projects.]   (FOOD AND AGRICULTURE * CITIES AND FOOD * URBAN AGRICULTURE * ALTERNATIVE FOOD SYSTEMS)

** Water Security: The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus.  The World Economic Forum Water Initiative.  Davos:  World Economic Forum (dist by Island Press), Jan 2011, 300p, $30pb (also e-book).  “The world is on the brink of the greatest crisis it has ever faced: a spiraling lack of fresh water,” as demand for water surges, while groundwater dries up. Worsening water security will soon have dire consequences in many parts of the global economic system.  At its 2008 Davos Annual Meeting, the WEF assembled a group of public, private, NGO and academic experts to examine the water crisis issue from all perspectives.  The resulting forecast – a stark, nontechnical overview of where we will be by 2025 if we take a business-as-usual approach to (mis)managing our water resources – suggests how business and politics need to manage the water-food-energy-climate nexus as leaders negotiate details of a climate change regime to replace the Kyoto protocols.        

  (WATER * SECURITY AND WATER * CLIMATE CHANGE * ENERGY * FOOD/AGRICULTURE)

   

** Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21^st Century.  National Research Council.  Washington: National Academies Press, Sept 2010, 598p, $65pb.  Not only is the agricultural sector expected to produce adequate food, fiber, and feed and contribute to biofuels to meet the needs of  rising global population, it is expected to do so under  increasingly scarce natural resources and climate change.  The NRC Committee on 21^st Century Systems Agriculture assesses the scientific evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different production, marketing, and policy approaches for improving agricultural sustainability and reducing the cost and unintended consequences of agricultural production.  It also explores how those lessons learned could be applied to agriculture in different regional and national settings, with emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa.      

** America’s Environmental Report Card: Are We Making the Grade? (Second Edition).  Harvey Blatt (Prof of Geology, Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew U of Jerusalem).  Cambridge: MIT Press, April 2011, 376p, $19.95pb.  Looks at water supplies, new concerns about water purity, the dangers of floods, infrastructure problems, the leaching of garbage buried in landfills, soil, contaminated crops, organic food, fossil fuels, alternative energy sources, controversies over nuclear energy, the increasing pace of climate change, and air pollution.  Outlines workable and reasonable solutions that map the course to a sustainable future, and argues that American can lead the way to a better environment: we can afford it, and can’t afford not to.   [Also see America’s Food: What You Don’t Know About What You Eat by Harvey Blatt (MIT, 2008).]  

            (ENVIRONMENT/RESOURCES * ENERGY * POLLUTION IN U.S. * WATER * FOOD)

*Advancing the Aquaculture Agenda: Workshop Proceedings.  Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.  Paris: OECD Publishing, Sept 2010, 428p, free pdf.  Aquaculture now provides more than 50% of the global supply of fisheries products for global consumption and plays an increasingly important role.  Addresses policy challenges for a sustainable aquacultural sector embracing the vision of the 2009 OECD Declaration on Green Growth that identifies best practices.  Includes case studies on zoning policy in Norway, governance in France, best practices in Greece and Turkey, future plans for Korea, national plans for Spain, controlling sea lice in Chile, and Canada’s National Aquaculture Strategic Action Plan Initiative.  Discusses barriers to agriculture development as a pathway to poverty alleviation and food security, connection between farmed and wild fish, and conditions for establishing aquaculture production sites in OECD countries. 

* Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21^st Century.  National Research Council (Committee on 21^st Century Systems Agriculture).  Washington: National Academies Press, 2010/598p/$65pb.  In the last 20 years, a remarkable emergence of innovations and technological advances have generated promising changes and opportunities for sustainable agriculture.  Growing awareness of unintended impacts of some agricultural practices have led to heightened societal expectations for improved environmental, community, labor, and animal welfare standards.  The scientific evidence is assessed on strengths and weaknesses of different production, marketing, and policy approaches for improving and reducing costs of agriculture..  Also explores how lessons learned about sustainability can be applied to agriculture in different regional settings, with emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa.  By focusing on a systems approach, “this book can have a profound impact on development of sustainable farming systems.”  (FOOD/AGRICULTURE * SUSTAINABLE FARMING SYSTEMS * AGRICULTURE FOR 21C)

* State of the World 2011: Nourishing the Planet.  Worldwatch Institute (Washington DC).  NY: W. W. Norton, Jan 2011/304p/$21.95pb.  An overview of the global food crisis—and how it can be solved.  Emphasizes the latest agro-ecological innovations and their global applicability, while offering insights into poverty, restoring rural economies, creating livelihoods, sustaining the natural resource base, international politics, and gender equality.

*Agriculture and Food in Crisis: Conflict, Resistance, and Renewal.  Edited by Fred Magdoff (Prof Emeritus, U of Vermont; Adj. Prof, Cornell U) and Brian Tokar (director, Institute for Social Ecology; Plainfield VT).  NY:  Monthly Review Press (dist by New York U Press), Nov 2010/288p/$18pb.  Explores long term and global trends in food production and food insecurity and argues that it is technically possible to feed all world’s people, but not as long as capitalism exists. Examines what can be or is being done to create a human-centered and ecologically sound system of food production: sustainable agriculture, organic farming, radical land reform, national food sovereignty, etc. (FOOD/AGRICULTURE * CAPITALISM AND FOOD CRISIS * LAND REFORM * SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE)

*The World Food Problem: Toward Ending Undernutrition in the Third World (Fourth Edition).  Howard D. Leathers and Phillips Foster (both Profs of Agricultural and Resource Economics, U of Maryland).  Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2009/433p/$27.50pb.  Millions of people in the less developed countries go hungry despite an abundance of food in the world. Analyses the current food problem (particularly the 2008 food crisis) and assesses prospects for the future. Looks at causes of undernutrition (income distribution, availability of farm land, water, and technology) and policy approaches to undernutrition (raising income of the poor, subsidizing consumption, increasing access to food, and increasing food supply).                                             

*Industrial Crops and Uses. Bharat P. Singh (Fort Valley State U, Georgia). Oxfordshire, UK: CABI (dist by Stylus), June 2010/512p/$190. An overview of methods and research on selection, cultivation, production, and processing of non-food crops, e.g.: bioenergy, industrial oil and starch, fiber and dye, rubber, insecticide, and land rehabilitation. Also considers future research in crop production and processing, and future prospects of the industry.

* Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know.  Robert Paarlberg (Prof of Pol Sci, Wellesley College).  NY: Oxford U Press, April 2010/256p/$16.95pb.  Explains the most important issues on the global food landscape in Q & A format: the food crisis of 2008, famines, the politics of chronic hunger, the race between food production and population growth, international food aid, “green revolution” controversies, the politics of obesity, farm subsidies and trade, agribusiness, supermarkets, fast and slow food, organic and local food, and GE food. (FOOD AND AGRICULTURE: GLOBAL OVERVIEW)

** Agriculture at a Crossroads: Synthesis Report. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development. Washington: Island Press, 2009/$20pb. A three-year collaborative effort initiated by the World Bank and FAO, involving >400 authors in 110 countries in assessing advances and setbacks of the past 50 years and options for the next 50 years; this report integrates key findings from the Global Report and five regional Sub-global Assessments, covering bioenergy, biotech, climate change, human health, natural resource management, trade and markets, traditional knowledge, community-based innovation, and women in agriculture.

 

* Water and Agriculture: Implications for Development and Growth. Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSIS, Nov 2009/117p/$19.95pb (download free from http://csis.org). Authors point to drip irrigation, drought-resistant plant breeding, wastewater treatment for irrigation reuse, satellite-based assessments, small-scale soil and management practices for smallholders, correct water pricing to encourage efficient use, more multi-stakeholder partnerships, concerted political will and action at all levels, and development approaches that integrate the nexus of food, water, and energy.

 

* The Feeding of the Nine Billion: Global Food Security for the 21^st Century. Alex Evans. Royal Institute of International Affairs (download at www.chathamhouse.org.uk/CHR), Aug 2009/60p$15pb (dist. by Brookings). Follow-up to an April 2008 Briefing Paper on Rising Food Prices: Drivers and Implications for Development, with attention to long-term impacts; the outlook is for turbulence and uncertainty.                                                       (FOOD PRICES * GLOBAL FOOD PRICE CRISIS)

 

* Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal. Tristram Stuart (UK). NY: W. W. Norton, Oct 2009/352p/$27.95. Author of a cultural history of vegetarianism argues that farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets, and consumers in N. America and Europe waste 30-50% of their food supplies, and offers painless solutions.                                                                                 (FOOD * RESOURCES)

 

* Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance. Edited by Jennifer Clapp (Prof of Env. Studies, U of Waterloo) and Doris Fuchs (Prof of Intl. Rels. and Development, U of Münster). Cambridge: MIT Press, June 2009/312p/$24pb. Transnational corporations have been central to the development of today’s globally integrated food system; topics include corporate definitions of “environmental sustainability” and “food security,” certifying “green” food in Southeast Asia, corporate influence on US food aid policy, international food safety standards, consumer resistance to GMOs, biotech firms and intellectual property, etc.                                                                           (FOOD * CORPORATIONS)