New book: Hope Not Hype

14.01.2009

The Future of Agriculture Guided by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. Written by Dr. Jack Heinemann.

http://www.jackheinemann.com

Can we feed the world in the year 2050? If we can, will it be at the price of more distant futures of food insecurity? 21st Century Earth is still trying to find a way to feed its people. Despite global food surpluses, we have malnutrition, hunger and starvation. We also have mass obesity in the same societies. Both of these phenomena are a symptom of the same central problem: a dominating single agriculture coming from industrialized countries responding to perverse and artificial market signals. It neither produces sustainable surpluses of balanced and tasty diets nor does it use food production to increase social and economic equity, increase the food security of the poorest, and pamper the planet back into health.

This book is about a revolution in agriculture envisioned by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), a multimillion dollar research exercise supervised by the UN and World Bank that charts sustainable solutions. The solutions are of course not technological, but technology will be a part of the solution.

Which technology? Whose technology?

Hope Not Hype is written for people who farm, but especially for people who eat. It takes a hard look at traditional, modern (e.g. genetic engineering) and emerging (e.g. agroecological) biotechnologies and sorts them on the basis of delivering food without undermining the capacity to make more food. It cuts through the endless promises made by agrochemical corporations that leverage the public and private investment in agriculture innovation. Here the case is made for the right biotechnology rather than the ‘one size fits all’ biotechnology on offer. This book provides governments and their citizens with the sound science in plain language to articulate their case for an agriculture of their own—one that works for them.

To be published in February 2009 by Third World Network.
 

Provisional Table of Contents
Foreword (by Dr. Hans Herrin, IAASTD Co-Chair)
Preface
Chapter One: Précis for Policy Makers
Chapter Two: Setting the Scene
Chapter Three: Defining Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
Chapter Four: Presence
Chapter Five: Yield
Chapter Six: Pesticides
Chapter Seven: Biotechnology for Sustainable Cultures
Chapter Eight: Growing more food on less (intellectual) property
Afterword
Appendix One: What is a GMO?
Appendix Two: Weed control strategies
Appendix Three: Potential human health risks from Bt plants
Appendix Four: Legal remedies case studies