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Farmer Jane: Women Changing The Way We Eat (2010)

by Temra Costa(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1423605624 (ISBN13: 9781423605621)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Gibbs Smith

review 1: Some terrific stories mixed with myths of farming lead to a frustrating read for me. The lack of attention to labor practices on many of the farms profiled - relying as many mentioned do on volunteer and intern labor - does not make the farms truly sustainable, no matter what their environmental practices. The need to rely on agritourism and high end marketing does not receive much consideration, for it would require readers and the food movement as a whole to reflect on our myths and images - often romanticized - of what real food is and farming is. Furthermore, without lifting up the real challenges in agricultural decision-making - organic does not necessarily mean no-spray, for example, or the reality that there's GMO techniques that are not transspecies but help in ra... morepidly moving forward needed breeding programs, or how to feed a hungry world without turning back the clock to where 90% of the population needed to farm to survive - we're not addressing fully the real work demanded of farmers and of folks who truly want a sustainable food system. At the same time, exploitative agricultural models are and have been destructive, just as they have also had some short-term important benefits, like reducing the frequency of famines. The answers are still being worked out. Hurrah for innovators and experimenters like those profiled in this book. Hurrah for the many farmers who wouldn't make it into a book this one, but who are still helping us figure out how to feed our species and nourish the planet at the same time.
review 2: Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.---Farmer Jane is set up as a bunch of short vignettes on various women who are currently active as farmers, activists, or otherwise involved in food production. I found it very interesting to get a female perspective on this because so many of today's big books by Michael Pollan, etc, are very much focused on men. Books like Farmer Jane always make me feel a little more hopeful for our future. less

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