"Shutting your eyes may be presidential policy, but Philpott won’t let us get away with it. He wants to focus our attention squarely on the environmental consequences of the global and, especially, the American way of raising food. Nothing, his new Perilous Bounty reminds us, is going in the right direction. . . We can’t lose sight of the land, water and air that need the loudest and longest advocacy. Perilous Bounty will line up many new recruits." - New York Times Book Review
"The most important book on the food system in years." - Michael Pollan, via Twitter
"[Philpott] makes a solid case that our intensive, industrial farm practices are draining California aquifers and causing severe fertile soil erosion in the Plains states. . . The book acknowledges a body of news reporting on this issue but deftly pulls together the whole crisis. Philpott is a veteran reporter for Mother Jones magazine and he has himself been a farmer, so he knows the language of agriculture." - Associated Press
"We should all listen to Tom Philpott. Farming in the United States is in grave danger, and this vitally important, lucidly written book opens our eyes to the disastrous environmental and health crises that have resulted from our current industrial agricultural practices." - Alice Waters
“In Perilous Bounty, Tom Philpott probes what's wrong with Big Agriculture-examining how it depletes California's water, poisons water in the Midwest, and ruins soil resources-and proposes ways to reconfigure the food system to better promote health and sustain the environment. This must-read book is deeply researched, compellingly written, and thoroughly inspiring.” —Marion Nestle, PhD, author of FOOD POLITICS and UNSAVORY TRUTH
“Tom Philpott knows how to farm and how to write. His warning in Perilous Bounty offers a simple choice. We can change our centralized, industrialized, corporate-controlled system of food production-or watch it collapse.” —Eric Schlosser, author of FAST FOOD NATION and COMMAND AND CONTROL
“Since Tom Philpott is among the first rank of food and farming writers it comes as no surprise, but Perilous Bounty is a tour de force - it showcases the danger we're in as the environmental vise tightens, and how we might still find our way out of this hole.” —Bill McKibben, author of THE END OF NATURE and FALTER
“Tom Philpott has been one of the leading lights in food-and-farming journalism over the last decade. In Perilous Bounty, he continues to show why his voice is a much-needed one, warning us about the impending collapse of industrial agriculture – and revealing what we can do about it.” —Mark Bittman, author of HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING
“There is no food writer I respect more than Tom Philpott. Perilous Bounty is masterful, important, and sobering - a must-read for anyone who eats and hopes to continue doing so in our changing world.” —Barry Estabrook, author of TOMATOLAND
“Amply illustrates, via enlightening interviews with hydrologists, geologists, soil chemists, and entomologists, the demands that corn/soy/meat culture have put on the Corn Belt, as well as the water burden of the industries of the Central Valley, are not only unsustainable, but likely catastrophic for future farming on that land . . . [Philpott] is deeply invested in-and knowledgeable about-all the ins and outs of the virtual oligarchy that controls American agriculture . . . a solid, keenly drawn critique of American agricultural circumstances and consequences.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Lucidly written, well-researched, and laced with profiles of farmers and communities fighting against the odds, this is a persuasive call for sweeping changes to the American food system." - Publishers Weekly
"Precise and pointed . . . With patient, quiet outrage and persuasive testimony from experts, Philpott makes the case that American farming faces multiple looming crises . . . This deeply reported study of American farming will terrify readers hoping for a sustainable future and will move them to action." - Shelf Awareness
★ 2020-05-04
The food and agricultural correspondent for Mother Jones takes a focused look at the ecological degradation caused by industrial agriculture in the U.S.
Philpott offers a view—primarily of California’s Central Valley and the Midwest Corn Belt—of what the political and economic forces of corporate-dominated agriculture are contributing to the decline of the environmental resources of these two main production regions. The author is deeply invested in—and knowledgeable about—all the ins and outs of the virtual oligarchy that controls American agriculture, from the seeds to the market destinations. It’s hardly surprising—though depressing nonetheless—that fewer than a dozen giant companies have so concentrated agricultural production that they have stretched resources such as natural soil fertility and freshwater resources to the point of environmental calamity. As Philpott amply illustrates, via enlightening interviews with hydrologists, geologists, soil chemists, and entomologists, the demands that corn/soy/meat culture have put on the Corn Belt, as well as the water burden of the industries of the Central Valley, are not only unsustainable, but likely catastrophic for future farming on that land. In the absence of cover crops to protect the land from increasingly severe storms, the Midwest’s once-deep soil is often washed away down the Mississippi River, ending up in the Gulf of Mexico, where its fertilizer loads spawn algal blooms that transform into dead zones. Philpott is especially good in his explanations of alternative agricultural modes of production, which, for the most part, involve increasing diversity, mixing it up, and spreading it out. The author also explores the unique problems facing midsized farmers—too small for the national chains and too big for local farmers markets—and the complete overhaul of production required to break the monoculture mindset. Philpott is not optimistic about the current political landscape, with a “climate change denier” as president and crucial regulatory agencies “shot through with former oil and agribusiness industry execs and flacks.”
A solid, keenly drawn critique of American agricultural circumstances and consequences.
