Distant Hunger : Agriculture, Food and Human Values

The problem of hunger is increasing, in general, we agree on that - but our agreement ceases when we consider appropriate definitions, approaches, and solutions to global scarcity of food. This book emphasizes that the world's food problems are technically, biologically, socially, politically, economically, and morally complex. Early chapters set out alternative conceptions of the world food problem and explore the major variables and assumptions of each. Subsequent chapters compare and contrast modern agriculture with traditional and subsistence forms of agriculture as biological systems. A fourfold classification of nations into food-sufficient and food-deficient and rich and poor precedes a discussion of political, economic, and cultural aspects of food policies in the United States, Europe, and selected less-developed nations. The book also considers the prospects for scientific and technological developments as partial solutions to global scarcity of food and makes guarded recommendations, reaffirming the complexity of the issues involved in world hunger.