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An empty plate : why we are losing the battle for our food system, why it matters, and how we can win it back
Why is it that food prices are so high that millions of South African families go hungry, while the prices paid to farmers for that same food are so low that many cannot stay in business? Why are the people that produce our food – farmworkers – among the most insecure of all? Why do high levels of rural poverty persist while corporate profits in the food sector keep rising? How did a country with a constitutional right to food become a place where one in four children is so malnourished that they are classified as stunted?
An Empty Plate analyses the state of the South African agri-food system. Ledger demonstrates how this system is perpetuating poverty, threatening land reform; entrenching inequality and tearing apart our social fabric. The book asks two crucial questions: how did we get to this point and how might we go about solving the problem.
This is a story of money, of power, of unanticipated consequences, and of personal and social tragedy. But it is also a story of what is possible if we reimagine our society and build a new system on the foundation of solidarity and ethical food citizenship.
An Empty Plate analyses the state of the South African agri-food system. Ledger demonstrates how this system is perpetuating poverty, threatening land reform; entrenching inequality and tearing apart our social fabric. The book asks two crucial questions: how did we get to this point and how might we go about solving the problem.
This is a story of money, of power, of unanticipated consequences, and of personal and social tragedy. But it is also a story of what is possible if we reimagine our society and build a new system on the foundation of solidarity and ethical food citizenship.
214 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
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35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 12, 2022
This book was an emotional journey, in good ways and bad.
The first part, discussing the history, structure and legislation around food security in South Africa, made me feel deeply angry, the second, which expands on the human cost of the first part, profoundly saddened, but the third rather frustrated. More on that to come. And this book does rely on stoking passions to retain interest, which is not inherently a bad thing, but it isn't necessary in this case.
Whatever these qualms are, the fact is that I found this book to be a revelation, asking and answering questions I had not even considered.
It's one of those books I'm going to encourage everyone to read - I may never shut up about it.
Summary of first two parts:
The food security system in South Africa is underpinned by a number of fundamentally misplaced beliefs and concomitant policies. Chief among them are the assumptions that firstly, society can fix the food insecurity problem if more food is produced, and secondly, that stimulating the economy by deregulating mega agri-businesses is the best way to solve the problem of food insecurity in South Africa. In essence, that the problem of food insecurity can be solved by deregulating the economy and letting market forces ‘organically’ allocate resources to the most efficient methods of production and distribution. This has created a situation so iniquitous that 1 in 4 South Africa children is chronically malnourished to the point of being noticeably stunted, in which farmers, the people who actually plant the seeds, till the soil and harvest the crops, not the farm-owners, cannot make enough money from selling produce to buy enough to eat. It is a situation in which price-fixing is the order of the day, and mega grocery chains and food processing corporations exploit workers and exclude small-scale producers from entering the marketplace, and all with impunity and in the face of government indifference.
Many voices, the government among them, have expounded the discourse around the idea of poor people growing their own food, either to supplement their diets or income. Food gardens may present a viable alternative, but only in the case of community gardens, not individual or family gardening projects. However, the aforementioned discourse is problematic in that it puts the onus on the individual hungry person to fulfill their nutritional requirements through their own enterprises, without giving them the agency to do so in a meaningful and sustainable way. And by that same token that discourse blames the very same people for being too lazy to help themselves. This problem will never be solved, says Tracey Ledger, because it has been fundamentally misunderstood. It is not as simple as saying that poor people do not make enough money to afford food, or that food is too expensive (and these are not the same thing) but rather that shoveling more money and fewer regulations in the direction of large-scale commercial agricultural production is seen as the only means to resolve the problem.
Ledger suggests a number of alternatives, all centre on the premise of using consumer power to make small-scale farms (unfortunately most seem to be urban, and Ledger herself admits that this is a serious rural problem as I understand it) commercially viable, so that farmers get the money for their work, instead of being squeezed out by corrupt supermarket chains (cough cough, PnP) who exploit their workers.
If you've gotten this far, well done. Please read this book, and get angry, and do something with your consumer agency to make a change.
The first part, discussing the history, structure and legislation around food security in South Africa, made me feel deeply angry, the second, which expands on the human cost of the first part, profoundly saddened, but the third rather frustrated. More on that to come. And this book does rely on stoking passions to retain interest, which is not inherently a bad thing, but it isn't necessary in this case.
Whatever these qualms are, the fact is that I found this book to be a revelation, asking and answering questions I had not even considered.
It's one of those books I'm going to encourage everyone to read - I may never shut up about it.
Summary of first two parts:
The food security system in South Africa is underpinned by a number of fundamentally misplaced beliefs and concomitant policies. Chief among them are the assumptions that firstly, society can fix the food insecurity problem if more food is produced, and secondly, that stimulating the economy by deregulating mega agri-businesses is the best way to solve the problem of food insecurity in South Africa. In essence, that the problem of food insecurity can be solved by deregulating the economy and letting market forces ‘organically’ allocate resources to the most efficient methods of production and distribution. This has created a situation so iniquitous that 1 in 4 South Africa children is chronically malnourished to the point of being noticeably stunted, in which farmers, the people who actually plant the seeds, till the soil and harvest the crops, not the farm-owners, cannot make enough money from selling produce to buy enough to eat. It is a situation in which price-fixing is the order of the day, and mega grocery chains and food processing corporations exploit workers and exclude small-scale producers from entering the marketplace, and all with impunity and in the face of government indifference.
Many voices, the government among them, have expounded the discourse around the idea of poor people growing their own food, either to supplement their diets or income. Food gardens may present a viable alternative, but only in the case of community gardens, not individual or family gardening projects. However, the aforementioned discourse is problematic in that it puts the onus on the individual hungry person to fulfill their nutritional requirements through their own enterprises, without giving them the agency to do so in a meaningful and sustainable way. And by that same token that discourse blames the very same people for being too lazy to help themselves. This problem will never be solved, says Tracey Ledger, because it has been fundamentally misunderstood. It is not as simple as saying that poor people do not make enough money to afford food, or that food is too expensive (and these are not the same thing) but rather that shoveling more money and fewer regulations in the direction of large-scale commercial agricultural production is seen as the only means to resolve the problem.
Ledger suggests a number of alternatives, all centre on the premise of using consumer power to make small-scale farms (unfortunately most seem to be urban, and Ledger herself admits that this is a serious rural problem as I understand it) commercially viable, so that farmers get the money for their work, instead of being squeezed out by corrupt supermarket chains (cough cough, PnP) who exploit their workers.
If you've gotten this far, well done. Please read this book, and get angry, and do something with your consumer agency to make a change.
November 16, 2025
Although this book is focused on the South Africa's agri-food system, it has lessons and insights for all countries.
It's made me think differently about food and the impact of my food purchasing decisions.
It's made me think differently about food and the impact of my food purchasing decisions.
January 9, 2023
A well-researched and thoughtful analysis of the food security crisis is South Africa, which is both accessible and compelling.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews