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The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World

Amanda Little (Goodreads Author)

4.20 · Rating details · 572 ratings · 121 reviews

In the fascinating story of the sustainable food revolution, an environmental journalist and professor asks the question: Is the future of food looking bleak--or better than ever?

"In The Fate of Food, Amanda Little takes us on a tour of the future. The journey is scary, exciting, and, ultimately, encouraging."--Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth In the fascinating story of the sustainable food revolution, an environmental journalist and professor asks the question: Is the future of food looking bleak--or better than ever?

"In The Fate of Food, Amanda Little takes us on a tour of the future. The journey is scary, exciting, and, ultimately, encouraging."--Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

Climate models show that global crop production will decline every decade for the rest of this century due to drought, heat, and flooding. Water supplies are in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the world's population is expected to grow another 30 percent by midcentury. So how, really, will we feed nine billion people sustainably in the coming decades?

Amanda Little, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an award-winning journalist, spent three years traveling through a dozen countries and as many U.S. states in search of answers to this question. Her journey took her from an apple orchard in Wisconsin to a remote control organic farm in Shanghai, from Norwegian fish farms to famine-stricken regions of Ethiopia.

The race to reinvent the global food system is on, and the challenge is twofold: We must solve the existing problems of industrial agriculture while also preparing for the pressures ahead. Through her interviews and adventures with farmers, scientists, activists, and engineers, Little tells the fascinating story of human innovation and explores new and old approaches to food production while charting the growth of a movement that could redefine sustainable food on a grand scale. She meets small permaculture farmers and "Big Food" executives, botanists studying ancient superfoods and Kenyan farmers growing the country's first GMO corn. She travels to places that might seem irrelevant to the future of food yet surprisingly play a critical role--a California sewage plant, a U.S. Army research lab, even the inside of a monsoon cloud above Mumbai. Little asks tough questions: Can GMOs actually be good for the environment--and for us? Are we facing the end of animal meat? What will it take to eliminate harmful chemicals from farming? How can a clean, climate-resilient food supply become accessible to all?

Throughout her journey, Little finds and shares a deeper understanding of the threats of climate change and encounters a sense of awe and optimism about the lessons of our past and the scope of human ingenuity. ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published June 4th 2019 by Harmony

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Jul 10, 2019 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 5000-2019, lor-2019

A entertaining of informative look at our future food sources, and the new technology bring developed. It opens with a chicken pie room, yes a whole room dedicated to making chicken pie in a bag. These ready made, easy to prepare meals have a market that will surprise. Robots that can thin lettuce and spray chemicals on only the weeds. The myths and realities of all the chemicals used, as well as the truth about GMOs.

Takes us to Kenya, and the resistant strains of corn they are planting in ...more

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Jan 23, 2020 Clif Hostetler added it · review of another edition

Shelves: current-events

This book explores what the future holds for food in the face the uncertainties and problems such as population growth, climate change, and water shortages. Beginning with existing problems such as waste, undernutrition, overconsumption, and harm to biodiversity, the book proceeds to explore various proposed new technologies that may provide improved food production and nutrition.

The book acknowledges both positive and negative opinions as it describes the new technologies. The author, Amanda This book explores what the future holds for food in the face the uncertainties and problems such as population growth, climate change, and water shortages. Beginning with existing problems such as waste, undernutrition, overconsumption, and harm to biodiversity, the book proceeds to explore various proposed new technologies that may provide improved food production and nutrition.

The book acknowledges both positive and negative opinions as it describes the new technologies. The author, Amanda Little, notes that people with strong opinions on issues about food divide into two camps; the deinvention camp and the reinvention camp. The deinvention group wants to undo modern agriculture and go organic with smaller scale traditional methods. The reinvention group is in favor of exploring all options that offer better nutrition produced with improved efficiencies in the use of water, pesticides and reduced carbon footprint.

The author is conciliatory toward these two sides of the debate, so readers with a strong opinions will probably remember the parts they want to hear. For me, I prefer seeking ways to improve efficiencies, production volumes, and sustainability. Thus one of the comments I remember from the book is that people who condemn all GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in food are disregarding scientific evidence just as much as the climate change deniers.

I don’t have space in this short review to list all the technologies examined by the book. Thus I’ll mention several that captured my attention.

One is Memphis Meats which is developing a technology that produces meat using bioreactors (i.e. no animals involved). We’re not talking about the vegetable based Impossible Burger. We’re talking meat that is identical to muscle tissue at the molecular level. It may be possible someday to manufacture meat in a bioreactor with a smaller carbon footprint than the traditional animal method. And it can be eaten with a conscience free of knowledge that an animal had to die to make the meal.

There is brief mention the use of algae as food in aquaculture. I know from past reading that algae can produce hundreds times more organic material per given area than any conventional crop grown in soil. However, extraction of the algae from water requires too much energy to be of practical use. It occurred to me that if aquaculture can raise fish capable of eating algae it would be one way to harvest the algae growth without needing to dewater the algae.

There was brief mention in the book that Golden Rice failed to achieve its goal of supplying sufficient vitamin A.
NOT TRUE!
The fact is that wide distribution of Golden Rice could significantly reduce the incidence of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Use of the rice has been opposed by anti-GMO people (Greenpeace in particular). Their opposition is contributing to VAD experienced by up to 190 million children, 19 million pregnant women in 122 countries, and 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness (per 2005 study). I wish this book had elaborated on that issue.

Amanda Little finishes the book with the following conciliatory comments:

There will be trade-offs. The underpinnings of our food system—the methods and tools and techniques future farmers use to grow fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins—will change, in some ways subtly and in other way radically, in order to continue growing the traditional foods we love. We’ll need passionate grassroots activists who continue to protect those traditions, and stronger state and federal policies that guide farmers toward smarter, more efficient practices. We’ll need robust networks of local, organic, small-scale farms, but also large-scale industrial farming, done better. We’ll need smart fish farms and AI-enabled robots and good GMOs and CRISPR’d crops just as much as we’ll need to safeguard heirloom plants. We’ll need rich, healthy topsoil, but also the data gathered from intelligent sensors planted beneath the surface. We’ll need new scrappy little start-ups and old, big food companies pulling and pushing for a third way approach to sustainable food production that serves everyone, not just the wealthy elite. We’ll need to push the bounds of technology with a better understanding of where it has failed us. We must innovate—with humility.

There's a role for everybody including both deinventionest and reinventionest. ...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Lou rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Fate of Food is a tremendous piece from award-winning environmental journalist Amanda Little and explores novel ideas and advancements we may have to take up given the world population is constantly rising and we are also facing threats to the planet such as global warming which will have a big impact on our food production capabilities. What we need is a sustainable way of producing food and the race to discover it is on. This is intensely thought-provoking and written in a relaxed, ...more

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Jun 21, 2019 Bam cooks the books ;-) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, food-and-drink, 2019-netgalley, 2019-reads

I was half expecting another doom and gloom book about how global climate change and big ag and their chemicals, pesticides and GMOs are destroying the Earth. There was some of that but this book contained so much more! It is a well-researched look at what is being developed to help cope with our changing world and how we grow and provide food for our burgeoning population. Amanda Little's writing style is very readable: it's in depth as she covers each topic but not dry or overly scientific. I ...more

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Mar 03, 2019 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-cooking

The first way is the crummy way that we've always done things -- wasteful, exploitive, short-sighted, brainless.

The second way is an attempt to remedy the first way by the joyless application of a thousand new rules, regulations, and prohibitions, to the point of criminalizing acting with normal levels of human self-interest.

The third way is, apparently, the unleashing of profit-driven creativity and new technology to remedy the problems created by the first way.

Will the third way actually work? ...more

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Sep 20, 2019 Amie rated it it was amazing

I can’t say enough about how excellent and essential this book is. If you think you know just how bad things are for our food supply, you don’t. Maybe you believe that your veganism or shopping local helps. It’s precious little. But the best thing about this book is not its pessimistic read on reality, it’s the hope it provides for the essential marriage of technology, innovation, ecological responsibility, and a reclaiming of ancient methods. As a whole, all of these approaches together can ...more

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Jun 28, 2019 Me rated it it was amazing

This book was sent to me free of charge in return for an honest review. Although this book is not an easy read it is very informative and current. I appreciated the fact that it wasn't all doom and gloom about the current state and future of our food. Indeed, the reader will learn of many new techniques, many using technology, which will sustain our food system into the future. I also thought the author's inclusion of photos not only helped with her explanation of processes and technology but ...more

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Aug 31, 2019 Lindsay Shields rated it liked it

Shelves: science

An important read for everyone. It acknowledges the severity of climate change impact on food sources as well as addresses issues such as food waste and nutrition quality. However I thought the narrator was annoying and often painfully ignorant which made this book a less enjoyable read. Additionally I did not like how she chose to only investigate extreme science endeavors that are often looked at as risky. While the extreme science is cool and interesting to read about, I wished she would have ...more

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Aug 02, 2019 Marilee rated it really liked it

This book describes the evolution of the way we eat food and predicts the direction the world is going in nutrition. It had some unexpected viewpoints - that GMOs aren't always bad and processed food has its benefits, and I could see the points the author was making. I'm somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to food. I like the old ways of growing, cooking, and preserving. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to the changes we're making in the world of nutrition, and I wish the author had ...more

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Jan 19, 2020 Laura Ghitoi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One of the best books I have ever read. It is so well packed with stories, information, emotion and impact that it's hard to not feel engaged by this book to contribute to the food challenges it presents.
I loved that the author consciously presented more sides to the same story, for instance the Monsanto seeds or organic farming. Nothing is black or white and that should not be the case for this book either - because the food sector itself is not black and white.
I have underlined so many quotes ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Justus rated it it was ok

From the beginning of the introduction, I already felt some trepidation that this wasn't going to be the book for me. There is a certain style of long-form writing that is almost memoir-like. The author becomes a primary character in the story and the writing becomes more about the journey they go on to reach a new understanding than anything else. Some people love that kind of non-fiction. This book spends more time talking about the farmers than about science.

But that wasn't the book I was From the beginning of the introduction, I already felt some trepidation that this wasn't going to be the book for me. There is a certain style of long-form writing that is almost memoir-like. The author becomes a primary character in the story and the writing becomes more about the journey they go on to reach a new understanding than anything else. Some people love that kind of non-fiction. This book spends more time talking about the farmers than about science.

But that wasn't the book I was hoping to read. I was hoping for something that would be dense and scientific and teach me about the profound ways in which the the food we eat would need to change.

Instead, the first chapter is about how....we won't need to make any changes to the apple industry because farmers will just adopt new technology. In the second chapter, farmers in Africa...won't need to make any changes because they'll just adopt new variants of their existing crops that are more drought- and disease-resistant.

After two chapters you're thinking...okay, so nothing is going to really change. That's....a bit disappointing. And if that's not the story Little wanted to tell...why is that the story of the first one-quarter of the book?

I came into this expecting stories of...I dunno....how corn -- America's biggest crop -- wouldn't grow in America after 2050 because global warming means the corn-belt moved up to Canada. Or how Japanese wouldn't be able to eat sushi anymore because all the fish are gone as China becomes richer. Or how Asia can't eat rice anymore because it is too water-intensive for the hot, dry, crowded world of 2060.

I just made all of those up. But those are the kind of things I was hoping this book would be full of.

Instead we get anecdotes like how she was interviewing a farmer in Africa and they asked her to adopt one of their 10 children and take them back to America. And it was awkward. So she fumbled in her purse and gave them $25, which was enough to pay for a semester of primary schooling.

Uh, okay? What's that got to do with "the fate of food"? Why is she making herself part of the story? Other people might enjoy that style but it wasn't for me. ...more

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May 19, 2019 Casey Wheeler rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, science, net-galley

This book is well written and researched. The author traveled far and wide to provide a look into what is currently being developed due to challenges from global warming. Each chapter deals with a different topic ranging from reestablishing ancient foods with some modifications, food waste, water, 3-D printed meat to creative crop growth strategies. It will be interesting to see which approaches gain momentum over the next few years and provide sustainable and affordable food for large ...more

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Jan 19, 2019 Matt Lieberman rated it really liked it

When most of us in the wealthier pockets of the world think about the negative consequences of global warming, we often fixate on rising sea levels, massive storms, droughts, and other catastrophic weather events that can destroy homes and wipe out populations. These concerns are completely warranted, but as Amanda Little illustrates in her insightful new book The Fate of Food, our warming and crowding planet will also pose some large problems to the global food supply across all regions and When most of us in the wealthier pockets of the world think about the negative consequences of global warming, we often fixate on rising sea levels, massive storms, droughts, and other catastrophic weather events that can destroy homes and wipe out populations. These concerns are completely warranted, but as Amanda Little illustrates in her insightful new book The Fate of Food, our warming and crowding planet will also pose some large problems to the global food supply across all regions and income levels. Food production is forecasted to decline across the next several decades due to drought, changing temperatures, flooding, and less productive land and the world population is projected to 9.8 billion by 2050. In The Fate of Food, Little offers a tour of global food production innovations and highlights the various people, technologies, corporations, and organizations acting to help mitigate these issues and shape the future of what we’ll eat in the decades to come.

The book is structured around major innovation topics, including vertical farming, farming and harvesting robots, and meats produced in petri dishes. Little’s quest takes her across the world including stops in Norway, Silicon Valley, and Kenya and this globetrotting allows her to provide a rather comprehensive overview of the future of food across the world and not just limited to WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) nations, which is especially valuable given the increasing interconnectedness of our global food chain. Little, a journalist who has written about energy and the environment for over 15 years, does an outstanding job of distilling complex scientific concepts such as how cloud seeding works and how seesawing temperatures impact crop biology into digestible prose. The Fate of Food is also more than a science lesson and features some fun facts (including that Winston Churchill apparently foresaw the development of cultured meats in petri dishes in 1931) and profiles of some of the quirky and passionate personalities at the frontlines of food innovation including an aspiring Chinese organic food tycoon and Chris Newman, who overcame a tough upbringing in Southeast Washington DC to become a programmer at the Department o Homeland Security and then quite his job and become a permaculture farmer using traditional techniques of food production.

The title is a bit misleading, as Little showcases efforts to actively change the future of food and a dismal food future is by no means circumscribed. The Fate of Food is not a book-length warning siren and although Little clearly argues that maintaining the status quo will have some severely negative consequences she also offers up reasons for optimism based on the cutting-edge technologies showcased in her writing. Given that discussions of topics such as global warming and food consumption can become incendiary and have passions take priority over the facts and peer-reviewed scientific research, Little’s even-handedness is very refreshing. She is certainly a concerned global citizen who cares about our food future, but she does not have an agenda to push and she’s a realist throughout. It is illustrative that Little recounts dalliances with veganism and other movements that ultimately lost out to concerns over cost and convenience (and the delicious barbecue of her home state of Tennessee). The Fate of Food presents a platform for both sides of the issues on subjects like GMOs and she relies on the opinions of experts and cites respected studies, while also granting exposure to dissenting voices. Rather than wholeheartedly endorse traditional farming methods (which have issues at scaling affordably) or fully putting fate of global food supply in corporations and technocrats, Little advocates for a “third way” solution that forges a middle ground between groups arguing for the return of traditional food production methods and those advocating for completely technology-driven food solutions. Additionally, she recognizes that some of these problems are so complex that they often require the sizable budgets of humongous corporations such as Monsanto and Syngenta to properly research (though Little is by no means an apologist for these corporations and describes how big business certainly needs to shoulder some heavy blame for some of the problems facing the world food supply).

The Fate of Food does a strong job at covering most of the major areas in food innovation but I felt that Little could have spent more time discussing alternative proteins such as insects and the role of major food corporations such as Nestle and Pepsi in adapting to future sourcing and supply chain issues. NGOs and Silicon Valley startups can have a tremendous impact on solving the world’s food issues, but the big industrialized food companies will also have a huge role to play given their outsized role in feeding and hydrating the masses. Little does devote some pages to chemical companies and interviews the CEO of Tyson Foods but she only scratches the surface of a subject that will be crucial in shaping the future of our food. That was really my only (slight) criticism, however, and I found The Fate of Food quite enjoyable overall. Little’s book does a fine job of both educating and entertaining and anyone looking to better understand the issues facing the global food supply and the most promising approaches to solving them should check it out.

8/10 ...more

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Jun 28, 2019 Catherine rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, food, farming-homesteading, 2019

Unless you've been living under a rock (willfully or otherwise), you know that we're in big trouble in regards to climate change, global population, and the unsustainable food system we currently use. One of the reasons I like to read post-apocalyptic fiction is because I want to see what the world might look like in the future, how humans might survive. But no one actually knows what the future will be like until we get there.

Are we better off looking for new ways to feed our ever-growing ...more

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May 24, 2019 Patrick Pilz rated it it was amazing

Disclaimer: I got this book from the publisher via a goodreads giveway....

...and it is the first of those that received a 5-star rating. I read, as a food engineer, pretty much anything related to food. Most books are polarizing, one-sided to drive a very controversial opinion home - not this one.

This book it written like a travel journal. On her journey, Amanda encounters challenges in the food supply chain (drought, food waste, basically 1 for each of the 13 chapters) and looks at how we try ...more

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Oct 19, 2019 John Weiler rated it did not like it

Total Disappointment

A “fascinating look at the race to secure the global food supply.” HA! This is a random collection of anecdotes ... a jumbled mishmash of shallow articles. Very different from being woven together as claimed.

The stories do deal with food or proto-food. To call them fascinating is laughable. The tales are overly simplistic. The author spends more time describing the people she met, their looks and personality, than she does on any real science.

Almost all of the disconnected ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Andrew Carr rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell wrote that "A human being is primarily a bag for putting food into...I think it could plausibly be argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty or even of religion...yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognised". In the Fate of Food, we see how the way human's create food changing largely for the better, albeit not nearly as fast as our planet needs it to.

There are two ways to read this excellent In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell wrote that "A human being is primarily a bag for putting food into...I think it could plausibly be argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty or even of religion...yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognised". In the Fate of Food, we see how the way human's create food changing largely for the better, albeit not nearly as fast as our planet needs it to.

There are two ways to read this excellent journalistic tale of the changing face of food. One is as a story of technology, culture and change. A recognition that humans have the ability to meaningfully improve their world and are continuing to do so. Instead of just sticking things in the soil and hoping they grow, we can now control both the environment and the plant's unique makeup to grow what we want, as we want, as efficiently as possible. This is all part of the story of mankind moving in the last 200 years to effectively remove famine and malnutrition excepting cases of political cause.

The other way to read this book, is a story of climate change. That we have plundered the planet, put the animal world to the sword, soiled the water and polluted the soil. And now people around the world are desperately racing to find ways to reduce, reuse, conserve, and protect what we have. We have played god and now suffer the wrath of our hubris. With drought, decay and hunger looming over us once more.

How you read it might be how you go into it. The author, Amanda Little, like many who will pick this book up, seems to have begun with the second path - cautious of GMOs, preferring a local, natural approach and cautious about big business and big science when it comes to her zucchini. Yet as she details in the epilogue, the reality is that both stories are fundamentally true, and we can't solve the genuine problems of the latter without recognising, respecting and celebrating the achievements of the former.

As Orwell warned, it is easy to forget the importance of food. Personally, I've made an effort the last few years to become a good cook because I didn't want to keep doing something (making a meal) 2-3 times a day that I didn't appreciate the process or outcome of. Those who concentrate on story two and see a world on fire, or rage against capitalism, too easily forget just how important the spread of available food has been for human wellbeing. This truly is the best time in all human history to be alive. Bar none, and the revolution in the availability and quality of food world wide is at the heart of that improvement.

This is thus a book of hope and gritted-teeth challenges. The technology to fix many of our issues- too many chemicals, not enough water, too much methane, not enough land, etc etc - is there, but still rudimentary, in testing and likely with offset problems of its own. We need more and we needed it yesterday. But here we are, and that's still not a bad place to be.

The fate of food, Little argues is, assuming we're smart and respect both stories' truths a third way, and largely one of improvement. Of healthier, more nutrious and greater tasting food. One where we not only provide the calories needed, but continue improving the range and appeal of good food. Where we grow just the meat - but not the cow, or produce 10'000 lettuces with the water and chemicals that previous generations used to produce just 100.

We may be just bags for putting food into. The most important story of the last 200 years is that we've gotten much better at putting more food into many more bags. The most important story of the next 200 years is whether we can keep doing so under much more difficult conditions. The Fate of Food by Amanda Little is a good place to start for understanding how humanity is trying to face that challenge. ...more

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Jun 21, 2019 Wallis Chan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: food, artificial-intelligence

An enlightening read.

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Oct 03, 2019 Ivan rated it did not like it

You can get the same information by watching the news or simply by surfing the web. Nothing really interesting in the book.

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Feb 15, 2020 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Boys and Sex
A must read for moms of boys! A frank, comprehensive, and thoroughly contemporary examination of the sexuality and gender issues boys face while growing up, including defining their masculinity and ‘fitting in with the boys’, understanding their bodies, learning about consent, exploring romantic relationships, etc.

Informative and data driven without being overly academic; conversational, humorous-when-appropriate voice, infused with passion for the subject and empathy for her ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 Rhonda rated it liked it

Shelves: business, future, health

Who's not interested in the future of food? I liked the various technological innovations being pursued, but not sure the author ever really committed to expressing on overall view. Will it be enough? Can we keep going at current population levels? An example of the genre where the author has to insert themselves as a character, instead of just researching and reporting - but maybe that reflects what most modern readers want.

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Oct 26, 2019 Jenna M rated it really liked it

a breezy read and a good mix of existential horror and get my heart out of my throat solutions

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Aug 12, 2019 Art rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, published-2019, read-in-2019, climate-change

“A tour of the future.”
— blurb, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Although the introduction and first chapter got off to a slow start, the book gained heft from there, discussing our food supply, food security and sustainable agriculture.

Amanda Little wanted to understand the effects of population growth and climate change on agriculture. She raises many issues and takes us on tours of modern agriculture.

Collapse of the food system ranks as the single biggest ...more

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Oct 04, 2019 Nupur rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, science, nutrition

(I started reading the book but could not finish before the library due date; I will be picking up this excellent book again). My notes:

Introduction: the industrialized world in general is enjoying a more abundant, diverse and accessible food supply than any time in history but many people are buying into the survival food trend. There are growing fears of political and environmental instability in our lifetimes. Post-food companies such as soylent are betting on disruptions. This book explores ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Marathon County Public Library rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-nonfiction, mcpl-review, adult, adult-le-food, adult-le-nature, adult-le-science

In today’s world, more and more people want to know about the food they eat, where it comes from, and how it’s grown. But what does the future hold for consumers – and the food on their plates – in a world that’s getting increasingly hotter, drier and that has more extreme weather?

In "The Fate of Food," author Amanda Little explores the different techniques and technologies that scientists, experts, and inventors around the world are developing to help prepare for a future that may include more In today’s world, more and more people want to know about the food they eat, where it comes from, and how it’s grown. But what does the future hold for consumers – and the food on their plates – in a world that’s getting increasingly hotter, drier and that has more extreme weather?

In "The Fate of Food," author Amanda Little explores the different techniques and technologies that scientists, experts, and inventors around the world are developing to help prepare for a future that may include more droughts and famines. Little travels to New Jersey, where vertical indoor farms are growing leafy greens in the heart of urbanized neighborhoods; to Kenya, where small villages rely on genetically modified crops to combat pests and droughts; to San Francisco, where plant-based and lab-grown meats are being developed as an alternative to mass-produced meat from factory farms; and to Massachusetts, where military scientists are developing 3D-printed food for soldiers and, eventually, the general public.

Little also visits Norway, where salmon farms are becoming more environmentally-friendly; to Arkansas, where robotic weeders and produce pickers are being perfected through artificial intelligence; to Israel, where the country went from a water deficit to a surplus by employing water-saving and desalination methods; and to Utah, where a variety of vacuum-sealed meals are being developed to cater to a growing number of doomsday preppers. In addition, the topics of food waste, pesticide use, unpredictable weather, and the proliferation of ancient grains are also addressed.

Little writes in a manner that is educational but also highly accessible. She explains various agriculture processes and techniques in an easy-to-understand way, and includes statistics that are often eye-opening and, sometimes, alarming. The book also includes over 30 pages of notes and sources, so the reader knows exactly where Little has gotten her facts and figures from.

I would highly recommend this book to people interested in agriculture, slow food, science, or technology, or to anyone who wants a glimpse of what could be on their plate in the next 15 to 20 years.

Dan R. / Marathon County Public Library ...more

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Aug 26, 2019 K. Lincoln rated it it was amazing

Little takes us on a tour of current farmers, technicians, and agricultural specialists trying to deal with the food issues revolving around changing populations, climate change, and globalization.

And she does so with the lens that current food cultures force a "false choice" between permaculture and industrialized agriculture.

From A Kenyan farmer who welcomes GMO corn because its the difference between starvation and survival, to an American farmer who embraces both organic and tech ways to ...more

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Jun 25, 2019 Georgianne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I couldn't decide between a 4 star or 5 star rating. The book was engrossing and well written so deserves 5 stars for that, and, for the most part, well researched. I agree with the reviewer, however, who said the book "chronicles a bunch of third-way solutions for problems which, in a more reasonable world than our own, would not be necessary, .... [but] since the human race is apparently incapable of doing this, third-way solutions may be the best of the bad remaining options." What pushed it ...more

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Jun 03, 2019 Kiera rated it it was amazing

Shelves: health-nutrition, 2019-releases

Food is a really contested and guilt-ridden space and abuts the climate debate a lot. With a growing population placing demands on existing resources, and global warming threatening those resources as well – how will we get enough food to eat?

Should we go vegan? Eat locally? Shun GM and herbicides? Experiment with new technologies? Go back to small, backyard subsistence farms?

The Fate of Food argues we should be doing all of it. It’s not about one or the other being the better solution, it’s ...more

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Jun 30, 2019 Leif rated it really liked it

There's no question that Little knows her beat. The depth of reporting and the duration of the time she's spent with the contemporary questions of sustainable agriculture - agribusiness to agroecology - are considerable, and her interviews with the people who are shaping the world industry are fascinating. That's all to the good, and it's very, very good.

At the same time there's a lot of wish-washy sentiment mixed into this, with Little refusing to come down in either the camp of technological ...more

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Jun 24, 2019 Cynthia D rated it it was amazing

*** This ARC was received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ***

One of my big curiosities in life has been around, literally, the future of food in a landscape where climate change has affected our environment. I was pleasantly surprised when the author actually delivers on the premise, and with so much detail! I really enjoyed the back and forth on different technologies being utilized and developed, and the willingness to include negative aspects of our food system and ...more

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About Amanda Little

Amanda Little

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Amanda Little is a professor of journalism and Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University. Her reporting on energy, technology and the environment has taken her to ultra-deep oil rigs, down manholes, and inside monsoon clouds. Amanda's work has appeared in the New York Times, Wired, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and elsewhere. She writes, bikes, and is learning to cook and tango in Nashville, TN, ...more

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“Most of us generate more planet-warming emissions from eating than we do from driving or flying. Food production now accounts for about a fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions annually, which means that agriculture contributes more than any other sector, including energy and transportation, to climate change.” — 2 likes

“Currently, U.S. soils are degrading ten times faster than they can be replenished. Tilling also dries out soil—it was a key factor causing the Dust Bowl crisis in the 1930s—and disturbs the microbiome.” — 1 likes

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