Title: Seeds of resistance : the fight to save our food supply /
Authors: Schapiro, Mark, 1955-; Talbot, David, 1951-
Year: 2018
Subjects: Food supply Environmental aspects.; Crops and climate.; Seeds Biotechnology; Agricultural industries Environmental aspects.; Agricultural industries Environmental aspects; Crops and climate; Food supply Environmental aspects; Seeds Biotechnology
Abstract: "Ten thousand years after humans figured out how to stop wandering and plant crops, veteran investigative journalist Mark Schapiro plunges into the struggle already underway for control of seeds, the ground-zero ingredient for our food. Three quarters of the seed varieties on Earth in 1900 had become extinct by 2015. In Seeds of Resistance, Schapiro takes us onto the frontlines of a struggle over the seeds that remain, one that will determine the long-term security of our food supply in the face of unprecedented climate volatility. Schapiro reveals how more than half of all commercially-traded seeds have fallen under the control of just three multinational agri-chemical companies. At just the time when scientists tell us we need a spectrum of options to respond to climatic changes, thousands of seed varieties are being taken off the market and replaced by the companies' genetically engineered or crack-baby seeds, addicted to chemical pesticides and herbicides from the day they are planted. Schapiro dives deep into the rapidly growing movement in the United States and around the world to defy these trends and assert autonomy over locally-bred seeds--seeds which are showing high levels of resilience to the onrushing and accelerating impacts of climate change."--
Contents: Foreword / by David Talbot -- Introduction: seeds & canaries -- A seed chronicle foretold -- Genetic vulnerability: how we got here -- Seeds, Inc. -- Acts of man: the genetic co-existence conundrum -- Genetic roulette: engineering the seed -- Seed rebels -- Postcards from the paradigm shift -- Seeds: the elephant and the acorn.