Mark Schapiro - Seeds of Resistance: The Fight to Save Our Food Supply

Copyright 2018 by Mark Schapiro

Foreword Copyright 2018 by David Talbot

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0576-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0580-7

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

BY DAVID TALBOT

The world is burning, and yet the firelight illuminates the way out. The times are dire, even catastrophic. Nonetheless we can sense a grand awakening, a growing realization all around the globe that people have the power, to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools in the prophetic words of Patti Smith.

But in order to rouse ourselves from the nightmares that hold us in their grip, we need to know more about the forces that bedevil usthe structures of power that profit from humanitys exploitation and from that of the earth. Thats the impetus behind Hot Books, a series that seeks to expose the dark operations of power and to light the way forward.

Skyhorse publisher Tony Lyons and I started Hot Books in 2015 because we believe that books can make a difference. Since then the Hot Books series has shined a light on the cruel reign of racism and police violence in Baltimore (D. Watkins The Beast Side); the poisoning of U.S. soldiers by their own environmentally reckless commanding officers (Joseph Hickmans The Burn Pits); the urgent need to hold U.S. officials accountable for their criminal actions during the war on terror (Rachel Gordons American Nuremberg); the covert manipulation of the media by intelligence agencies (Nicholas Schous Spooked); the rise of a rape culture on campus (Kirby Dick and Amy Zierings The Hunting Ground); the insidious demonizing of Muslims in the media and Washington (Arsalan Iftikhars Scapegoats); the crackdown on whistleblowers who know the governments dirty secrets (Mark Hertsgaards Bravehearts); the disastrous policies of the liberal elite that led to the triumph of Trump (Chris Hedges Unspeakable); the American wastelands that gave rise to this dark reign (Alexander Zaitchiks The Gilded Rage); the energy titans and their political servants who are threatening human survival (Dick Russells Horsemen of the Apocalypse); the utilization of authoritarian tactics by Donald Trump that threaten to erode American democracy (Brian Klaass The Despots Apprentice); the capture, torture, and detention of the first high-value target captured by the CIA after 9/11 (Joseph Hickman and John Kiriakous The Convenient Terrorist); the deportation of American veterans (J Malcolm Garcias Without a Country); and the ways in which our elections have failed, and continue to fail, their billing as model democracy (Steven Rosenfelds Democracy Betrayed).

And the series continues, going where few publishers dare. You hold in your hands the latest offering in our seriesand in some way, the most elemental. Nothing is more essential to human existence on our planet than seeds, the tiny pods that sustain us all. And yet the basis of our food supply is coming under increasing stressby climate change and the corporate and political forces that are pushing us to the brink of survival. The Trump presidency is only aggravating this crisis in our food chain, with its refusal to believe in science or to heed urgent environmental alarms. Fortunately, as Mark Schapiro explores in Seeds of Resistance, a global movement of farmers and grassroots guardians of our food supply has sprung up to fight the corporate greed and political ignorance that endangers us all. While much of Schapiros book is a wake-up call about the growing threats to the origins of our existence, his book is also deeply inspiring, documenting how unsung heroes around the planet continue to nurture and protect the agricultural cradles of life.

Hot Books are more condensed than standard-length books. Theyre packed with provocative information and points of view that mainstream publishers usually shy from. Hot Books are meant not just to stir readers thinking, but to stir trouble.

Hot Books authors follow the blazing path of such legendary muckrakers and troublemakers as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jessica Mitford, I.F. Stone and Seymour Hersh. The magazines and newspapers that once provided a forum for this deep and dangerous journalism have shrunk in number and available resources. Hot Books aims to fill this crucial gap.

American journalism has become increasingly digitized and commodified. If the news isnt fake, its usually shallow. But theres a growing hunger for information that is both credible and undiluted by corporate filters.

A publishing series with this intensity cannot keep burning in a vacuum. Hot Books needs a culture of equally passionate readers. Please spread the word about these titlesencourage your bookstores to carry them, post comments about them in online stores and forums, persuade your book clubs, schools, political groups and community organizations to read them and invite the authors to speak.

Its time to go beyond packaged news and propaganda. Its time for Hot Books... journalism without borders.

INTRODUCTION

SEEDS & CANARIES

SEEDS ARE EVERYWHERE. Blowing in grains of pollen, secreted in hard shells underneath the surface of the earth, cached inside of fruits and nuts. They come in all forms: round, oblong, square, rectangular, blue, brown, yellow, green, and all the colors in between. Each one is a packet of kinetic energy, a genetic call and response, a story yet to be written. Add three basic ingredientssoil, water, and sunand the story unfolds. First the seed breaks through its shell, then it pushes its roots into the soil in search of water, and finally it sends its stem upward toward the sun.

This is the primordial process that supports life on the planet. Emerging on branches, tucked into flowers, or sometimes multi-tasking as roots, every seed holds the promise of becoming food. And each contains information about the conditions in which they evolved, the adaptations that enabled them to survive, and the human beings who cultivated and nurtured them.

Around ten thousand years ago, humans figured out how to stop wandering and plant seeds in the ground, which meant they no longer had to go on endless treks to hunt for food. Thus began agriculture, and the deeply mutual interplay between humans and seeds. This included keeping an eye out for the seeds that could survive shifting weather patterns and deliver the best looking, tastiest, and most nutritious food. Centuries before Charles Darwin came along to give it a name, farmers played with the forces of evolution. Year after year, season after season, they would select the strongest seeds to nurture and pass along to their descendants, continuing the story.