On one side are “insiders” who understand the industry and are rightly proud of it, many of whom have dedicated their lives and livelihoods to it. On the other side are “outsiders” who champion the in-vogue notion that the industry is broken – a notion that the author refers to as “Ag Humpty Dumptyism.” It’s a farmer versus foodie conundrum that has the potential to impact food security for generations to come. Outsider influence in the food and farming system is growing, and Farmers versus Foodies offers a sincere inquiry into why that is the case. The author Even if we credit the farmers and the foodies with good intentions, their competing assessments of the current state of the industry cannot both be correct. Perhaps most critically, their competing visions for the future of farming and food will ultimately take us to very different destinations. Every ag system thought leader should care about who wins this battle, but that won’t happen without reflecting on the trends tracked here and the implementation of some of the author’s ideas for change.
Full disclosure: this book is actually a 3.5-3.75 rating and Good Reads should consider revising their rating system (or maybe you can and I just don’t know what I am doing).
I appreciate the level of detail, research and diligence Ray clearly put into writing this book. The topic matter is certainly important and Ray has a captivating and entertaining way of delivering that message. He does a great job of reserving emotions and political opinion despite making clear his stance on the matter.
The shortfall in this book for me (and maybe he has another novel coming out to address this) is delivering any kinds of solutions and addressing any kind of middle ground between the “Foodies” and Farmers; (I.e. with respect to the well known animal brutalities of factory farming and the “Aggies” desire for a more moral system, generally speaking). No doubt this is very complicated and would take a whole book and then some to derivate any sort of solution but I was hoping he would push a bit further. In fairness, Ray does address from the Farming community’s perspective things that need to be done/not done to preserve any sort of say/strength that they have in the agriculture community.
Ray did a great job laying out the forces pushing to overhaul US ag - recommend to anybody interested in learning more about ag power players and where future debates will likely go