food industry and trade

Investigates the hidden connection between global food and global finance by asking the simple question: Why can't delicious, inexpensive, and healthy food be available to everyone on Earth? Reveals that money pouring into the global derivatives market in grain futures is having astonishing consequences that reach far beyond your dinner table, including the Arab Spring, bankrupt farmers, starving masses, and armies of scientists creating new GMO foods with U.S. marketing and shipping needs in mind instead of global nutrition. Our food is getting less healthy, less delicious, and more expensive even as the world's biggest food companies and food scientists say things are better than ever and that the rest of us should leave it to them to feed the world.Readers of Bet the Farm will glimpse the power behind global food and understand what truly supports the system that has brought mass misery to our planet.

Over the past three years, Hardwick, Vermont, a typical hardscrabble farming community of 3,000 residents, has jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike anything else in America. Even as the recent financial downturn threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms, a stunning number of food-based businesses have grown in the region. The mostly young entrepreneurs have created a network of community support; they meet regularly to share advice, equipment, and business plans, and to loan each other capital. Hardwick is fast becoming a model for other communities to replicate its success.--From publisher description.

Chronicles major food trends in the United States during the twentieth century, demonstrating how changes in society have impacted dietary and dining habits.

Examines the environmental impact of people's food choices and encourages people to make smarter, more earth-friendly choices when shopping and cooking, explaining how the global food market is responsible for more than one third of total greenhouse-gas emissions.

Describes a shopping trip to the grocery story, discussing various departments such as the bakery and deli. Includes visual literacy activity.

Explains, in simple text and illustrations, the origins of a variety of foods including bread, french fries, eggs, ketchup, and milk.

Contains brief biographies of ten men and women who founded famous food companies and explains how each of them built their empire out of simple ingredients.

Examines the crucial role food played in the Civil War, describing how the North mobilized its agricultural resources to feed its civilians and soldiers while people in the South were starving, leading to an agricultural divide that is still felt in the twenty-first century.

Discusses the political ramifications of decisions made by the food industry in America and how those decisions can affect citizens' everyday diet and health.

Addresses the topic of food safety, providing background and history, examining related problems and controversies including special U.S. issues, and featuring a chronology, biographical sketches, a selection of data and documents, a directory of organizations, and resources.