Food for Life Summary and Analysis

A revolution similar to the one that happened in the textile industry happened in agriculture as the responsibility of feeding the exploding population began to be absorbed by large corporations, and increasingly larger swaths of land are dedicated to increasingly smaller varieties of crops. The "Green Revolution" in the middle of the 20th century was focused on high-yield seeds, biocides, irrigation and nitrogen fertilizers, and the results have been dramatic and increasing imbalances in nitrogen levels and other such chemical changes to the soil, as well as the loss altogether of topsoil as the complex mix of living bacteria, bugs and worms that depend on a biologically diverse mix of plants in an area die away. While energy efficiencies have increased with the advances in engineering, the condition of the soil and the available diversity of seeds...