For the last six months or so I have been regularly visiting the www.medialens.org internet site. It is very valuable site for catching up on the state of play in some of the major issues facing us all, the Iraq war, American militarism, globalisation, climate change and other matters. For instance postings today in the message board have been about Malcolm Kendall-Smith, the Anglo-New Zealand RAF doctor who has refused to be re-posted to Iraq on the grounds that the the orders to do so were illegal orders because the war is illegal. Other postings have been about the Iranian Oil Bourse, Afghanistan, Iraq body count. The Medialens alerts are always worth reading, and are usually related to how the mainstream media, including such papers as the Independent and the Guardian, misrepresents the underlying issues with many of these majors issues mentioned above. The message board is of course the medialens readers place for comment. The quality of this does vary of course, but is much higher than most such sites that I have read previously.

A recent series of postings was about vegetarianism, and as a relatively new convert to this diet, at least as a pisco-vegetarian, I thought I would contribute. As a lazy way of posting to this site, I copy some of the medialens postings here. It gives the background to my dietary habits now, to anyone who might be interested, though I can't imagine why anyone would be. It started out with this posting from a chap called Kola.



I was a bit taken aback by the vehemence of this posting, as a later posting from Mark queried if Kola had been hit over the head with a carrot when a child by a particularly aggressive vegetarian. I thought I would place my own posting.



This time a posting from another regular contributor, Derek Lane.



Another posting by your truly, in response to Derek's.

Now it's Derek's turn again.

Now it's Kola's turn again. This injunction to stop these cowardly tactics brought this swift response from Eamonn Brenna.

And this from Walter:




So I went to write a bit more. I mention at the end an outstanding and worrying book, "So Shall We Reap" by Colin Tudge. After my posting, I will say a bit more about this book and why it is so important.

It is about six months since I read this exposé of modern agricultural practices, so I am re-reading it now. The blurb on the cover reads: So Shall We Reap exposes the devastating fallout of today's relentless drive for maximum food production at rock-bottom cost, as health scares spiral, rural workers are driven off the land and poorer nations are forced to export their goods in a cut-throat market place. But, Colin Tudge reveals, there is an alternative. In this explosive book he looks at the global food industry and shows how - without resorting to GM crops - we can take back control from the corporate barons, feed the world and, ultimately, ensure the survival of humanity. A quote from "The Herald" review says "...Tudge goes further, showing how junk politics have turned the adage "agriculture is a business like any other" into a pernicious new global orthodoxy.

Whilst the blurb on the back of any book tends to hyperbole, in fact it is an accurate description of what is written within. Colin Tudge writes with great wisdom and clarity, and his coverage of all aspects of global agriculture, from grower to greengrocer, seedsman to supermarket, cowboy to cook, is comprehensive and thorough.

Colin Tudge is a Cambridge zoology graduate who has worked as a science journalist and has written several well known and very successful books on agriculture and conservation (such as Food Crops for the Future), genetics (In Mendel's Footnotes) and evolution (The Variety of Life). Colin is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre of Philosophy of the London School of Economics. His books have won many Science Writer awards.

The book has the longest subtitle of any book I have ever read: How Everyone Who Is Liable to Be Born in the Next Ten Thousand Years Could Eat Very Well Indeed; and Why, in Practice, Our Immediate Descendants Are Likely to Be in Serious Trouble   And this summarises perfectly both the concerns and the hopes of Colin Tudge in writing this book.

His opening sentence is dramatic "The prospects for humanity and for the world as a whole are somewhere between glorious and dire. It is hard to be much more precise."

Some would say, this is self-evident. But what is important about this statement is that, barring an asteroid striking our planet, or some other unforseen geological catastrophe, that our prospects depend entirely on humanity's own actions. He goes on to say a page later, in concluding the very first part of his introduction to the nature of the problem facing us "The broad point is, though, is that we need to look ourselves - humanity - and at the world in general in a quite new light. We need in particular to perceive that our material problems are, at the most fundamental level, those of biology. We need to think, and we need our politicians to think, biologically. Do that, and take the ideas seriously, and we are in with a chance. Ignore the beating drum of biology and we and our fellow creatures haven't a prayer.. Colin Tudge's book is a vigorous and searching exploration of this fundamental tenet.

Following Colin's overall injunction to think biologically, which in practical terms means thinking about matter for the next thousand to ten thousand years, he goes on to examine the Malthusian question of burgeoning populations, and whether we can feed this multitude. He says that if the projections for a maximum global population of ten billion by about 2050, and its subsequent gradual decline thereafter is correct, then this reduces the problem to one that actually has a short time frame. Once we have got to 2050 and fed the ten billion, which he thinks we could comfortably manage, other things being equal, then we are past the crisis, and thereafter what is now an almost overwhelming issue, will become an ever easier matter to manage. The spanner in the works of this optimistic scenario is global warming.

It is not generally the place of a reviewer to give a detailed synopsis, but I did do this in my review of Jared Diamond's important book, "Collapse", and I do so here, so that the breadth and humanity of Colin's vision can be appreciated.

Ch 2 Farming, what is it, what's if for, how it became, how it works. In this chapter Colin examines the likely beginning of farming, which he considers must go back a long way before the first civilisations in Mesopotamia, whilst it was still an integral part of the hunting and gathering cultures of early human history. He points out that farming is often a more onerous existance than than hunting and gathering, and the main reason farming came to be was the need to feed increasing numbers of people. A potted history of farming ensues, emphasising how successful traditional farming methods have been at feeding vast increases in population. In beginning to examine what modern farming is for, he notes that it is not primarily for feeding people, it is for making a profit. The drive for efficiency, maximum profits, maximum yields has caused or been part of the industrialisation of agriculture. Sustainability, employment and the environment have lost out. And this goes back to his overriding premise, the need to consider everything we do biologically, on a time scale of thousands of years, not just the ten years, or up to thirty years if one's lucky, of most commerce.

Ch 3 examines nutrition and diet, from starvation to obesity. He ponders the question of the obesity epidemic, and asks what is all this for? One myth he is anxious to dispose of is the need for high amounts of protein, which is part of the excuse for diets rich in meat. He tells us that a diet of potatoes alone is sufficient in protein, though not adequate for some vitamins and micronutrients. In particular he points out the serendipity of a diet of pulses and cereals provides the main nutrients the body needs, in proteins, fats and carbohydrate, in excellent proportion, such that the Mexican boy he tells us about who eats tortillas and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner, is in fact having a nutritionally very adequate, if somewhat boring, diet. For a child the overall dietary protein does not need to be higher than about 6.5%, for an adult, just 3%. And as long as there are sufficient calories and micronutrients, such a diet is completely healthy, and much more so than most of us eat now. Colin, who I understand is something of a gourmet, then goes on to show how good husbandry and farming, good nutrition and great cuisine fit hand in glove, so where have we gone astray?

Ch 4 considers the problem of meat, of interest to me as a vegetarian. Colin states that this general shift of diet to increased meat consumption is the most profound change in modern times in nutrition and agriculture. He explains this primarily as the result of the market and commerce looking to increase output and profit. In any well-fed society, there is no room for increasing consumption, so one concentrates on food where the profit margin is higher. Society in general could be well satisfied on a modest agricultural output if they ate cereals and pulses. But this is an economic cul-de-sac. Feed half your staples to animals, and voila, the more staples you must produce. Keep increasing meat production, and you can actually throw away a good deal of the beast and we can all live on steak. Put the rest into sausages or dog food. This is what we now do. But the consequences are first, our terrible health problems, and secondly, our terrible environmental ones. If present trends continue, but 2050 the world's livestock will consume the equivalent of four billion people. The health of the planet is being compormised so a few very wealthy people can become even more wealthy.

Chapter 5 examines food safety and gives an overview on the BSE epidemic and the foot and mouth epidemics, both entirely due to factory farming practices and both entirely avoidable. Much of the problem is due to an increasingly complicated chain of food handling, from grower to processor, allowing rather more room for chicanery or stupidity. Modern food laws make it almost impossible for the small farmer, or food producer to trade, yet at the same time vast factory farms where animals are kept in overcrowded and inhumane conditions relying on antibiotics to keep infection at bay are positively encouraged.

Chapter 6 entitle Craft, science and the growing of crops looks at the role of science in agriculture, the tremendous benefits accruing from the scientific understanding of growth and nutrition of plants, pesticides etc., but if science is misdirected, how damaging it can be. Of course this chapter would not be complete without mentioning the Haber Bosch process, the creation of nitrogenous chemical fertiliser from fossil fuels, and the revolution in farming occasioned by this process.

Chapter 7 deals with plant and animal breeding. After a review of traditional breeding methods, and the scientific understanding of Mendelian genetics, Colin goes on to examine one of the more contentious issues of the day, genetic engineering, continuing his arguments in Chapter 8. It is worth stating at the outset that Colin does not agree that genetic engineering is going to be anything like as valuable as its proponents state, and the likely problems much greater than its proponents admit. He says "genetic engineering really is a heavy-duty technology which represents a qualitative shift in humanity's ability to manipulate living systems.....as we enter the 21st century the expression "biologically impossible" has become obsolete." Colin first examines the pros (in less than two pages, which may reflect the actual dearth of pro arguments, or Colin's own predjudices), such as drought or frost resistent crops, but he doesn't mention Roundup resistant crops that can be grown in a no-till cropping system, with advantages on soil structure and energy usage. He then goes to examine the cons, the drawbacks and the reality in eighteen pages. The main criticism of genetic engineering seems to be that it is mostly being used to promote and continue the industrialisation of agriculture, and profits for corporations, rather then the nutrition and welfare of humanity. Colin just doesn't agree that genetic engineering, as presently proposed, is in any way necessary to feed the world, and the risks are far to high to consider that it is. This thesis of course puts Colin at odds with the vast majority of politicians, business leaders and farmers in the Western world.

Chapter 9 starts expanding Colin's thesis to more widespread concerns than just agriculture. For instance, he suggests that money, as the vehicle of capitalism, can provide a benchmark value for many things, but the really important things in life, such as friendship, health, environment, space, beauty and, more importantly, morals or ethics. Western culture and business is pushing for a development that a) re-enacts the history of the developed world, and b) that the global market is only realistic option. But whereas advanced countries industrialised first, and then their agriculture, we are asking the developing nations to do this in reverse. As Colin says, this is a recipe for disaster, for instance in India, five hundred million people work on the land. It is impossible to see what these people would otherwise do.

The last part of the book is concerned with Enlightened Agriculture, and to start the vegetarian diet and organic farming is critically considered. Whilst he sees enlightenment in these movements, he doesn't consider either to be a necessary concomittent of enlightened agriculture. For instance there are many parts of the world, the grasslands, the steppes, the scrublands that are best utilised by animals, in appropriate numbers. As vegetarians, we are certainly entitled to our views, and we are showing some leadership in our ethical position but we don't have the monopoly of ethics. However modern, richer humanity does eat far too much meat, and a healthy and ethical approach would be to have concern for animal welfare and humanity's health. In regard to organic farming, whilst Colin recognises its contribution to good husbandry and enlightened agriculture, its rules are just too arbitrary. Colin constantly refers to his main theme of mixed farming as the most sustainable and ethical approach to farming, depending on geography. This involves the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals.

Colin Tudge takes us to the end of his book by summing up his thoughts and ideas in the first part. He stress the need for all countries to be self-reliant on food, no self-sufficient, but at least grow enough of the basics to be able to sustain the country if circumstances require it. The constant thread running through his book is that enlightened agriculture marches to the drum of biology.

My overall impression of this book is of a professional biologist, writer and commentator, with high moral and ethical values, trying to make sense of what is happening in agriculture today and being profoundly disturbed by what he is finding. It is also the case, that in criticising so much of what he calls the MICG (Monetarised, Industrialised, Corporatised and Globalised) model of agricultural practices, he is also making a trenchant criticism of how this model has become the norm in many other areas of the global economy. For instance, as an addendum to the book, written for the paperback edition, he responds to criticisms of his views as being reactionary, romantic or unrealistic. He is particularly contemptuous of the disdain of the NFU (the National Farmers Union in the UK) to his book, he points out that since WW2 the NFU has happily presided over a twenty-fold deline in farmers and farm-workers, perhaps the only union in the history of the movement to actively collude with its own collapse.

"Despite the critics", Colin writes, " I have become more and more convinced by world events, the various meetings I have attended, and by my American, Asian, and continuing British travels, that if anything I didn't argue the point quite strongly enough. If I were starting the book again..... I would stress the need to gear the world's food production to the strength's of the landscape, crops, livestock and gearing output to the nutritional need and local cuisine." He goes on: "I would reinforce the political arguments. The more I have travelled, talked and watched world events unfold" (and earlier he makes a reference to his stupefaction in regard to the Iraq war, "a lesson in the extraordinariness and primitiveness of mainstream politics"), "the more it becomes obvious that present-day economics and hence political ambitions are ludicrous" (My daughters would recognise this phrase, I am often accused by them of using the word "ludicrous" overgenerously.) "At this point in human history humanity as a whole could be flourishing, when the reality is that we are constantly at war ...... starvation continues and the diseases of affluence grow more grotesque. I suppose I wrote "Reap" to some extent in the spirit of "wouldn't it be nice if ....", now I feel that the Enlightened Agriculture that "Reap" advocates is a burning and urgent necessity".

For other reviews on the internet, just Google the title of the book. There are several articles available on the internet by Colin Tudge which are worth reading, eg. here. Another page is here, where Colin Tudge corresponds about GM food. Click here for Colin's reviews of some excellent books concerned with oil, global warming and ecology, including a book called Ecological Ethics, by Patrick Curry. This site explains Colin Tudge's concern about what he calls the corruption of science by business and politics. By far the strongest theme in Colin Tudge's book is the very strong moral and ethical message contained in what he is telling us. I empathise with this a great deal, and I have in many places in my site stressed the moral and ethical and indeed the spiritual aspects of the dilemmas that face us, and that no significant progress can be made without recognising and accepting these ethical issues first. It is my truest belief that all other considerations are secondary. The same emphasis on an ethical examination of the problems which beset us is evident in Ronald Wright's A Short History of Progress, or Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilisation and even Lord Houghton's classic scientific examination, Global Warming, has an important chapter devoted to the examination of these ethical, moral and spiritual issues in regard to global warming. It is too why I am an admirer of Prince Charles, David Suzuki and so many others who have this same perspective.






Addendum 18/12/06

Kim Hill is a well known interviewer in New Zealand, though to some her somewhat abrasive style can grate, most notably when she had a most remarkably acid encounter with John Pilger. Kim does though interview some very interesting and knowledgeable people, and generally does her homework thoroughly, something which John Pilger accused her, wrongly, of not doing. Anyway, this is by way of a preamble in regard to an interview she gave a few weeks ago with Michael Pollen, author of a book about food and farming, by the title "The Omnivore's Dilemma". A brief description of the book can be found here, on Michael Pollen's own internet site. There are links on this site to several reviews of the book, and there is a transcript of an interview with Michael on the internet magazine site, "The Monthly". I had not previously known about Michael Pollen, but he seems to cover something of a similar landscape as Colin Tudge in his book, reviewed above. You can hear Kim Hills interview with Michael here. I have downloaded it from the Radio NZ site, but it is only available for four weeks. In view of the importance of the subject, and the increasing interest in the matters the interview raises, I hope both Michael and Radio NZ will not object to my use here, which is purely for public education. Listening to interviews like this, reading around the subject in books and on the internet, there is something truly sickening and revolting, and morally and ethically abject and moribund, about so many aspects of modern agricultural practices, thinking of battery hens, intensive pig farms and cattle "feed lots", which is reducing sentient animal species to a status of an industrial scale biological culture medium. Pollen makes the point that in the US food has never been cheaper, representing about 10% only of total personal expenditure in that country, yet never have so many been so malnourished, with the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in the US, and now spreading to many other countries. This interview is well worth listening to, food for thought, as it were. For the corporate state, what may presently be the animals turn, might soon be ours? You have been warned.

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