India's Organic Farming Revolution

What It Means for Our Global Food System

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book India's Organic Farming Revolution by Sapna E. Thottathil, University of Iowa Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sapna E. Thottathil ISBN: 9781609383015
Publisher: University of Iowa Press Publication: October 1, 2014
Imprint: University Of Iowa Press Language: English
Author: Sapna E. Thottathil
ISBN: 9781609383015
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Publication: October 1, 2014
Imprint: University Of Iowa Press
Language: English

Should you buy organic food? Is it just a status symbol, or is it really better for us? Is it really better for the environment? What about organic produce grown thousands of miles from our kitchens, or on massive corporately owned farms? Is “local” or “small-scale” better, even if it’s not organic? A lot of consumers who would like to do the right thing for their health and the environment are asking such questions.

Sapna Thottathil calls on us to rethink the politics of organic food by focusing on what it means for the people who grow and sell it—what it means for their health, the health of their environment, and also their economic and political well-being. Taking readers to the state of Kerala in southern India, she shows us a place where the so-called “Green Revolution” program of hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and rising pesticide use had failed to reduce hunger while it caused a cascade of economic, medical, and environmental problems. Farmers burdened with huge debts from buying the new seeds and chemicals were committing suicide in troubling numbers. Farm laborers suffered from pesticide poisoning and rising rates of birth defects. A sharp fall in biodiversity worried environmental activists, and everyone was anxious about declining yields of key export crops like black pepper and coffee.

In their debates about how to solve these problems, farmers, environmentalists, and policymakers drew on Kerala’s history of and continuing commitment to grassroots democracy. In 2010, they took the unprecedented step of enacting a policy that requires all Kerala growers to farm organically by 2020. How this policy came to be and its immediate economic, political, and physical effects on the state’s residents offer lessons for everyone interested in agriculture, the environment, and what to eat for dinner. Kerala’s example shows that when done right, this kind of agriculture can be good for everyone in our global food system.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Should you buy organic food? Is it just a status symbol, or is it really better for us? Is it really better for the environment? What about organic produce grown thousands of miles from our kitchens, or on massive corporately owned farms? Is “local” or “small-scale” better, even if it’s not organic? A lot of consumers who would like to do the right thing for their health and the environment are asking such questions.

Sapna Thottathil calls on us to rethink the politics of organic food by focusing on what it means for the people who grow and sell it—what it means for their health, the health of their environment, and also their economic and political well-being. Taking readers to the state of Kerala in southern India, she shows us a place where the so-called “Green Revolution” program of hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and rising pesticide use had failed to reduce hunger while it caused a cascade of economic, medical, and environmental problems. Farmers burdened with huge debts from buying the new seeds and chemicals were committing suicide in troubling numbers. Farm laborers suffered from pesticide poisoning and rising rates of birth defects. A sharp fall in biodiversity worried environmental activists, and everyone was anxious about declining yields of key export crops like black pepper and coffee.

In their debates about how to solve these problems, farmers, environmentalists, and policymakers drew on Kerala’s history of and continuing commitment to grassroots democracy. In 2010, they took the unprecedented step of enacting a policy that requires all Kerala growers to farm organically by 2020. How this policy came to be and its immediate economic, political, and physical effects on the state’s residents offer lessons for everyone interested in agriculture, the environment, and what to eat for dinner. Kerala’s example shows that when done right, this kind of agriculture can be good for everyone in our global food system.

More books from University of Iowa Press

Cover of the book Paracritical Hinge by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book The Best Specimen of a Tyrant by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book First We Read, Then We Write by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Poisonous Muse by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book If I'd Known You Were Coming by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Nola by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Knowing Where It Comes From by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Campaign Inc. by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Music for the Melodramatic Theatre in Nineteenth-Century London and New York by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Myself and Some Other Being by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Hope Isn't Stupid by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Sweet Will by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book The Rainy Season by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Among Friends by Sapna E. Thottathil
Cover of the book Whitman & Dickinson by Sapna E. Thottathil
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy